Paul Dixon: The Fighter
by DeadGrlSprStr666
Summary: Paul Dixon is on his way to the top. He's at the top of his game, and his career is what he's focused on, the last thing he's looking for is love, but that may be just the thing he needs. Rating: M for Graphic Adult Language, Sexual Content, Violence, some instances of Domestic Violence not between main pairing! This is a Paul centered fic! Cover Image by Mist!
1. Ch 01: Meet Paul 'Dire' Dixon

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and may contain Graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.**

**A/N: Yeah I know I know, 'stop starting new shit and work on the old DG!' I'm still working on the old stuff, don't worry! **

****La Push, Washington. Friday June 15th, 2 weeks from fight Paul POV****

My alarm clock rips me out of sleep. It's barely 5am, still pretty dark, but the time doesn't really matter, I'm in training. My feet hit the floor and the grey early morning light hits my eyes. I grab a pair of shorts and a muscle shirt out of my drawer, throwing on the clothes I run my hand through my short spiky hair and head downstairs.

My dad grunts as he shoves a big bowl of oatmeal with fresh fruit in it at me. I dig in fueling myself up for my day. This time of the morning it's just me and my old man, who's also my trainer, within the next half hour though Sam and Jared, my two best friends my whole life, will show up along with some of the younger guys around the res.

My name is Paul Dixon, I'm 21 years old, and I've been boxing for about 8 years now. Most guys who get into it, they get the love for it from their dads, and while I did get a good bit of it from him, for the most part I got my love for the Sweet Science from my grandma. If there was one thing Maya Dixon loved it was watching a good fight, so I was exposed to it from the time I was just a little guy.

My father had been an up and coming fighter when he was my age, unfortunately he wiped out on his Harley at age 20, and spent the better half of 2 years recovering and learning to walk again. His legs and back were never really the same, he didn't have to walk with a cane or be in a wheelchair or anything, but he could never compete with men at 110 percent.

Dad met my mom while he was recouping from the accident, she was a nurse at the hospital where he did his rehab, and he still says that half the time he went it was just so that she would smile at him when he came in the door. By the time he had recovered they were dating, and less than 3 years later I was born. They still to this day have never tied the knot, but they're still together, and they love each other so I guess that's enough for them.

Finishing my breakfast I tie my shoes and head out the door, with each step along the path my mind clears, by the time I get two blocks away Sam has joined me, followed by Jared, Seth, and Embry. We run through town in the early morning light, getting to the outskirts we continue up the road towards Forks, I'm sparring later so this is just a good warm-up, jogging at a moderate pace 2 miles out, and 2 miles back.

Hitting the 2 mile marker we turn around and head back, tomorrow is endurance day, which means I'll run sprints along the beach while my dad times it out. We're just getting back into town when a guy with a camera comes up behind us. I recognize him as working for the local paper, he had done a couple of stories on me, mostly flattering hometown boy makes good stuff. He had politely glossed over my ladies man reputation and for that I was grateful, it wasn't something I wanted my Grandma to have to read about.

He calls out, "Paul! Mr. Dixon! Can I get a minute of your time?"

I slow down and move to the shoulder of the road, Sam and the rest of the guys stopping behind me. The reporter shakes my hand, "Steve Caley, La Push Observer sports columnist, I don't know if you remember me, but I've done a couple of pieces on you."

I give him a nod, "Yeah, I remember, decent pieces, I was happy with them. Thank you."

Caley nods, "Glad you liked them. I just wondered if you could give me a comment about your upcoming fight with Emmett 'The Crusher' Cullen?"

A couple of the younger guys snort, and I give them a hard look, before returning my attention to Caley, "Cullen is a good fighter, but I'm better. He's only been in the game for 2 years, I've been doing this for damn near half my life. He has the money, and he has the swagger, but he doesn't have my skill, he doesn't have the benefit of my father's experience, and he doesn't have the support of an entire community behind him. I have all of those things, and when I meet him in the ring, I am going to be the one who comes out victorious."

Caley nods, smiling, as he follows up, "Paul, you've only recently started using the nickname, 'Dire'. Why now, after so much time in the game, have you decided to choose a nickname?"

A grin breaks on my face, and a couple of the guys laugh. Turning my attention back to the reporter, I answer, "Some of the boys laugh, because they know. My grandma was the one who really introduced me to boxing when I was small. When I first started training she told me, 'Pauly, you put the work in and whoever is facing you is going to be facing some dire consequences.', well my answer to that was, 'Gramma, what does that even mean?' and she replies, 'Dire means causing great fear and suffering.' Well she's getting older but her words have never been truer, because when you get in the ring with Paul 'Dire' Dixon, you **will** be dealing with some great fear and I promise you, that you **will** be suffering."

Caley smirks, "Thank you Mr. Dixon. I really appreciate your time."

Nodding, I reply, "Please, call me Paul. Always a pleasure. See you around."

He goes back the way he came, and the guys and I continue back to the house to meet up with my dad and get down to the gym.

We get back to my house and my dad greets us with a scowl on his face, and a paper in his hand, "Have you seen the Forks morning paper?"

I shake my head, "Uh, no. Obviously not since you look ready to beat someone and I'm still cool, calm, and collected."

He thrusts it at me, "It's on the page between the gossip column, and the sport's section."

Well that doesn't sound good… I open the paper, quickly scan the article, and a groan escapes my lips, "Has Grandma seen it?"

Dad shrugs, "I don't know son, I doubt it since she hasn't called, but maybe you should call her and warn her not to read it."

Nodding in agreement, I sigh, "Why would she do this? I was honest with her, she said she understood."

Dad shrugs again, "Women, who really knows what they want."

Continuing to read the article I realize that it's more of a fluff piece on Cullen and his engagement, and upcoming wedding to a Forks girl he met while vacationing at his parents estate there as a teenager.

Bella Swan, the name rings a bell in the back of my head, do I know her? I don't think so but if she grew up in Forks chances were our paths had crossed at some point or another.

Shaking my head, I give my dad back the paper, "It's a rag piece. Cullen's daddy probably paid for it. Not worth our time or energy. We'll beat that asshole in the ring."

****Time skip later that same day****

Sam is in the ring with me, we've been going for hours, and I'm not tired yet. The conditioning program that my dad has been doing with me must really be working because Sam's the best sparring partner I've got and he's lookin like he's ready to hit the mat.

Finally my dad blows the whistle, "Alright that's enough! Pauly, how do you feel?"

I move in place punching the air, "I feel good, Dad. Like I could go 10 rounds right now."

He laughs, "That's what I thought. All our work is paying off. I'm proud of you son. That belt is yours."

Sam is in the corner, leaning on the ropes, and taking deep breaths. Dad shakes his head at him, "Sam, man you need to stop lettin' that pretty wife of yours cook all that heavy food for you."

Sam grins, "My Leah's a damn good cook Mr. D, but you're right, she's makin me soft."

Dad laughs, "Nah, Son, I'm messing with you. Come out with Pauly tomorrow and do sprints with us, that'll help bring your endurance up."

All I can think about is the vacated North Western Heavyweight Championship, the first stop on the road to World Heavyweight gold, and me and Cullen were going to be fighting it out for it in less than two weeks.

My Dad looks at me, "Go on with the heavy bag if you want. Only until you start to feel it, then go shower up, go home, and relax."

Nodding at him I go between the ropes and drop down to the ground, heading over to the heavy bag I think back to the piece from the paper this morning, and channeling the anger I start to pound the bag.

They had dug up one of my one night stands from like 2 years ago, Lauren Mallory, and had her talk about how I treated her badly, led her on, and then ultimately used and ditched her. It was all fucking bullshit, I had been completely up front with her, I was focused on my career, on my sport.

I had actually taken her out for a really nice evening before we hooked up. I had in no way treated her like a hooker, well unless you count slightly rough sex in that category, and I certainly had NOT offered to pay her as they implied in the article. Thankfully my Grandmother hadn't read the article when I called her, and she promised that she wouldn't bother reading it.

I give the heavy bag one last hard punch, catching it on the backswing, and settling it back into place. Going into the locker room, I grab a towel, and a bar of soap, and head for the showers, stripping off my sweaty clothes, I leave them on the bench in the outer part of the stall, and turn on the water.

It goes hot, and I'm thankful for the opportunities that I've been given. With my first major payday I had built up the rec center, adding the boiler system that was now heating the water I was standing under, and funding some after school programs. The kids had a place to go where they could learn a skill and the parents had the peace of mind of knowing exactly where their kids were and what they were doing.

Grabbing the soap off the ledge I wash the sweat of the day off, the hot water feels amazing on my body, which is starting to ache from the days exertion. I let the water run over me, letting my mind drift into that in between place, clearing it of all worries.

I hear a door open somewhere at the front of the locker room, it rips me from my bubble, and I decide to get going. Turning the water off, I grab the towel and dry off, pulling the clean shorts and t-shirt out of my bag I get dressed, go back to the locker and grab my shoes, pulling them on before gathering my bags and heading out the door.


	2. Ch 02: The Fight

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and chapters may contain graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.**

**A/N: I just want to add a note here to remind everyone that this is a Paul story, even though there will be a Bella POV in this chapter her POV's are going to be few and far between because this is a Paul centric fic. **

****Time skip Thursday June 28th, Night before the Fight****

The last 24 hours before a fight are rough, by that point you've trained pretty much all you can train, you've made whatever weight you're going to make, and you're just in that place between dread and longing, dreading the thought that you may lose, longing for the spoils that come with winning. Overall though, those 24 hours before a fight are like the calm before the storm, the lazy haze of summer before fireworks rend the night sky.

I don't like doing the pre-fight interviews, trading barbs with the opposition isn't really my style. Don't get me wrong, I can trade fighting words with the best of them, it's just that, if I'm gonna hit a man, I'd rather hit him with my fists in the ring, than with my words in an interview.

Unfortunately for me though Boxing is a sport with a following like every other sport, and young heavyweights going for their first belt was a big story. Which is how I find myself in the offices of the ShoWare Center in Seattle sitting at a table with my Dad to my left, Sam to my right, a mic in my face and a small crowd of sports reporters seated in chairs in front of me. Cullen is at another table a few feet to my left, his trainer, and his father(who's also chief of his medical staff) on either side of him.

The moderator starts everything off, "Good evening everyone! My name is Dan Haden, I represent the North Western Regional Boxing Association. The two gentleman on either side of me are the top two contenders in the North Western region, and in just 24 hours they are going to be going toe to toe for the North Western Heavyweight Championship belt. I'll open the floor now to the news media for questions."

He points to a reporter, "yes, you go ahead"

The reporter identifies himself, "Jack Grady, Port Angeles Daily News. This question is for both men. This fight is sort of the 'subway series' of the boxing world right now, Mr. Dixon was born and raised in La Push, Mr. Cullen in Forks. Do the two of you feel that you are fighting for hometown glory?"

Jumping on the glaring error, I reply, "See, you're wrong about that. Mr. Cullen was not born and raised in Forks. His parents have a summer estate in the town, and from what I hear, his fiancé is a hometown girl, but Mr. Cullen himself was born and raised down in Los Angeles. However as to your actual question, yes, I do feel that I'm fighting for hometown glory. I was raised in La Push, I _still_ _live in _LaPush, I'm involved in my community, I give back to my community, and I am proud of my roots and where I come from. I want to help my community to prosper, and flourish. So yes Mr. Grady, I am fighting for hometown glory."

Mr. Haden remarks, "Mr. Cullen? Anything to add?"

Cullen smiles, but it's more of a smirk, "I may not have been born and raised in Forks, but it is my home, and yes, I am fighting for hometown glory, but I'm also fighting because I _deserve _this title shot. I'm the one who worked my ass off day in and day out, and **I'm** the one who made the sacrifices. So am I fighting for hometown glory? Yeah, a little, but for the most part I'm fighting for me, and my family, and also to pay off the wedding of my girls' dreams."

There's the usual laughter, and another reporter asks, "Mr. Cullen, ESPN2 picked up an article in the Forks' Chronicle. Do you have any comment to the people who are saying that it's little more than a smear piece that your camp paid for?"

Cullen's father jumps on this, "My son doesn't have to pay for Mr. Dixon to get bad press. From what I've heard that one girl is only one of hundreds."

Emmett smirks, before giving me a challenging look, and asking, "What does Mr. Dixon have to say to that?"

I let the glint into my eye, and the predatory smile onto my face as I lean down to the mic, "I say that your camp can go ahead and dig up whatever you want to dig up. You can pay however many girls to do interviews as you want. At the end of the day though, in 24 hours you're getting in the ring with Paul 'Dire' Dixon, and at the end of those 12 rounds I'm the one who's gunna have that gold around my waist."

The moderator picks another reporter, "Paul, do you feel that with your father in your corner that you have an advantage?"

My dad grins at me, as I reply, "Hell yeah I feel that I have an advantage. My dad was a professionally trained fighter cut down in the prime of his career! I have the benefit of all of his experience, and lets not forget that my dad left the game undefeated."

Mr. Haden follows it up, "Paul Dixon Sr. was a legend in his own time, that fact at least is indisputable."

Dad gives him an appreciative nod, while another reporter says, "I think most people would say that you guys are pretty evenly matched, still, Vegas has Dire listed as the 5 to 1 favorite. How do you feel about those odds, Mr. Cullen?"

Cullen's face goes from smiling to intense and angry, and the sneer in his voice comes out loud and clear, "Personally, I think Vegas is full of shit! They're putting Dixon on at 5 to 1 solely because of who his daddy is. Well tomorrow night, when the ref is raising _my_ hand in victory, everyone's gunna see that dynasties are dead, and bloodlines don't mean shit!"

Laughing, I shake my head, my dad claps his hand on my shoulder as Mr. Haden brings the interview to a close, "Thank you gentleman, may the best man win tomorrow night."

The room clears out and pretty soon it's just me, Sam, my Dad, and the guys from the sponsors office and Cullen's camp left in the room. Dad squeezes my shoulder, "Let's get a move on, Son."

As we get to the door I open it and go to step through and just miss knocking over a woman on her way into the room. I sidestep quickly, "Sorry, excuse me."

The woman, more of a girl really, smiles at me, her warm brown eyes are friendly and open, and they captivate me as she says, "My fault. Sorry."

I'm about to reply, when Cullen appears in the doorway, "Babe!"

She turns and runs into his arms, Cullen kisses her deeply, running his hands over her body, before pulling back, and telling her, "Come on honey, Dad's inside still."

She smiles at me again, before turning and following Cullen through the door.

I'm snapped out of my daze by Sam's hand in my face, and his voice yelling in my ear, "Paul! Let's go man!"

Shaking my head a little I turn and follow Sam out of the building where my Dad is waiting, "Well, let's get out of here."

****Time skip the next evening, 20 minutes before fight****

I can hear the crowd in the stadium, feet pounding as they make their way to their seats, voices raised in excitement, waiting for the bout. Sam looks scared as he sits on the bench across from me, wrapping my hands with sweat on his forehead.

He messes up the wrap and my dad pushes him, "Go on! Sammy you need to sack up, get your head in the damn game! Let me finish this. You go get everything we need to take to ringside ready."

Sam looks at me apologetically and goes to do what Dad told him to. Dad sits down on the bench across from me, a fine sheen of sweat coating his forehead, he grabs a fresh wrap and starts wrapping my hands from scratch "How you feelin Pauly?"

Smiling at him, I reply, "I'm okay Pop, you know as soon as we get the wrap done and I can get moving I'll be fine."

He smiles back, "I know. You're a good boy Pauly, I want you to know, no matter how this goes tonight. I'm proud of you."

He wraps the fabric around my knuckles, I clench my fists even though I know that my dad has done this for me hundreds of times, he knows the tension I need better than I do myself.

Bringing the tape down and back up between my fingers he brings it down to my wrist again wrapping it around securely and fastening the Velcro strap. Grabbing my other hand he repeats the process quickly and efficiently before smacking my hands lightly, "Alright, you're all set."

Getting up I let the adrenaline flow through me, working off of the nerves until all I feel is ready.

There's a knock on the door, Dad gives me one last long look, and nods, "You're ready."

I put my robe on, I had chosen my ring gear to represent the flag of my people, blue trunks representing the ocean that gave life to my people, gold accents for the predominant color of the flag, a light gold robe for the same reason, with my name on it in dark green almost black script representing the trees from which my forefathers made the canoes that they used for whaling.

Sam grabs my corner bag, and we head into the hall where the rest of my guys are waiting. Being the favored fighter means I walk out to the ring after Cullen does, meaning he's already out there. Waiting.

****Bella POV****

My future father in law, Carlisle Cullen, leads my father and I up a stair case, he nods at the ticket taker at the door of the skybox and opens the door, gesturing for Dad and I to go ahead of him.

We go into the room, a huge black leather couch is in front of the glass window, dominating the space above the window is a large flat screen TV, there are smaller televisions all over the room, as well as small groups of black leather chairs.

In the area when we first walk in there are tables set with all kinds of Hors d'oeuvres, and another filled with bottles of Champagne and assorted beers on ice. Carlisle pops the cork on a bottle of Champagne, and pours a glass. He hands it to me, and Dad intercepts it, "I would prefer it if you didn't give my underage child alcohol right in front of me."

Carlisle's eyes go dark, but his smile stays in place, "Come now Charlie! The girl is going to be 19 years old in a matter of months! She's an engaged woman for goodness sake!"

Dad's smile does not stay in place and I wish that I could disappear as he replies, "Be that as it may Carlisle, I'm a Police Chief, Bella is _my_ daughter, and I do not condone letting her drink alcohol underage. She is **my** child and maybe you need to remember that **I** make the rules regarding her."

Carlisle's face goes carefully blank, "Very well then, there are soda's in the cooler by the table Bella."

Nodding, I go over to the cooler and grab a can of cola before going to sit on the couch. Looking through the glass I watch people filing into the arena, the ring in the center is stark white, the ropes around it are red and blue, the corners empty of their competitors, waiting.

My dad comes and sits down next to me, "How you doin Kiddo?"

I take a sip of my soda, "I'm okay, worried I guess. They put the other guy in as a 5 to 1 favorite Dad. What if Em gets hurt?"

Dad shrugs his shoulder a little, he puts an arm around my shoulders and talks to me in a soothing tone, "He's trained for this Bells, but chances are even if he wins he's gunna be hurting. This is the path he's chosen though honey. All you can do is support him win or lose."

Carlisle cuts in, the edge clear in his voice, "Win or lose? Sorry to contradict you Chief, but my boy doesn't lose. Now, I have to get down there. Esme and the children will be joining you sometime before the fight."

I wave to him, "See you afterwards Carlisle."

He nods and heads out the door, thankfully leaving Dad and I alone for the moment. Dad looks at me, shaking his head slightly, "Bella you know I like Emmett. He's a decent guy who makes you happy. It's so hard to see how he came from that man though."

I shrug, "You know he's adopted Dad, and Carlisle isn't so bad if you give him a chance."

Dad shrugs back, "Bells you know I've tried. The man is a smug, arrogant, self important jackass!"

Dad stares out the glass, brooding as he drinks his beer. He sees something and perks up, "Oh! Look Bells, Billy and Jake are here!"

I follow his gaze and see that he's indeed correct, my Uncle Billy, and his son who used to be a good friend of mine, Jake Black are here. Looking around I realize that it looks like the whole Quileute nation is in attendance, "Dad, what did the whole town of La Push come out?"

Dad shrugs, "That's what it looks like, Honey. You have to remember, Paul Dixon is one of their own. From what Billy tells me he's done a lot for the Reservation with his winnings. He's a good man, never forgot where he came from, still lives down in La Push even though he could afford to move to the city and leave it behind."

Nodding I reply half thinking, "Em is from Los Angeles…"

Dad snorts a bit, but any comment he would have made is cut off by the door opening. Emmett's mother Esme Cullen and his younger twin siblings Alice and Edward come through the door. I sigh internally, as much as I love Emmett, his family and I have always been on opposite sides of the spectrum.

Carlisle is Carlisle, and honestly my dad had the accurate measure of the man. Esme was a loving mother from what Emmett told me, but she could be very cold and she had decided from the outset that she didn't approve of her eldest marrying what she termed a hick from Forks. The twins were much the same as their parents, I was just happy it didn't seem that Edward had brought his girlfriend Rosalie who was a nasty bitch all on her own.

Alice's boyfriend Jasper was Rosalie's brother but the two could not be more different. They were from LA by way of Texas, though it seemed to me that Jasper got all the Southern Charm, either way neither of them were here and that was fine by me.

Esme looks at my dad and I and even I can see the disdain in her eyes, the sugar in her voice faker than aspartame as she exclaims, "Bella! Darling how nice to see you! Chief Swan you look well."

Dad half smiles, "Thank you Esme, you look great, I'm glad to see you aren't worrying yourself about Emmett in the fight tonight."

She smiles but her eyes are like ice, hard and cold as she laughingly replies, "Boys will be boys Chief Swan. He's trained very hard for this, I'm sure he's going to make us all proud."

The background on the TV's goes blank and Esme takes a seat on one of the chairs as she says, "Oh good! It looks like we're starting."

The crowd below is strangely silent as I hear Emmett's entrance theme come on the speakers, tuning out the music I watch the entrance way waiting for my man to appear.

Finally there's a small amount of fireworks and there he is, wearing a black robe over bright gold trunks, the hood is up, covering his face, he looks intense as he walks to the ring. Hardly anyone cheers, there are boos, and I hear Esme in the background becoming angry with the crowd.

Dad holds my hand as tears sting my eyes, I whisper to him, "Why do they hate him?"

He squeezes my hand, "they don't hate him honey, but this is a hometown crowd for Dixon, I remember Billy telling me he had paid for busses to bring people out, he paid for tickets for the majority of the Res. It's not that they hate Emmett honey, it's just that this is Dixon's home crowd."

Sighing, I slump against my dad, worried again. Em had told me not to worry, not to believe the other fighters' hype, he was in fantastic shape, he had muscles on muscles for cryin out loud. It seemed to me that there was no way he could lose. Then I had gone to meet him at the press conference, the other guy coming out of the room had almost knocked me over, his height and his build were somehow more intimidating than Emmett had ever seemed to me, but he had seemed very nice when he apologized, I had smiled and said it was my fault.

Emmett had called me then so I had gone over to him. He had hugged me so tight, and kissed me so deeply it felt like he was claiming me. I had felt his hands over my hips, going down to my butt. He knew that I didn't particularly like public displays of affection so I wasn't totally sure why he was doing this in front of this other man, but I didn't want to embarrass him so I just kissed him back and did my best to pretend like we were alone.

Later, when we got back to his house he had told me that the other man was his opponent and that he was a notorious womanizer and that he hadn't wanted him to get any ideas about me. He apologized for making me uncomfortable, but thanked me for going along.

I'm dragged out of my thoughts by the roar of the crowd, cheering for their hometown hero. For the second time I'm in awe of the size of the man, it's not that he's even that much bigger than Emmett, but his presence seems darker somehow to me. Maybe it's just the things that Em had told me about him. Even standing at the top of the ramp as far away from the skybox as he could possibly get he seems larger than life.

The song goes from traditional sounding drums to a rock song that I recognize from the band Nonpoint called Miracle, and Dixon and his entourage finally start to make their way down the ramp to the ring.

The TV on top of the glass is now following him as he climbs into the ring, the camera pans to Em's corner where Jasper's Uncle Peter who is also Em's trainer is in his face giving him a harsh pep talk.

The crowd is still cheering full tilt as the announcer steps into the ring. Finally the cheering goes down to a dull roar as the announcer starts talking, "Tonight we have a great fight for you! This bout is for the vacated North Western Heavyweight Championship! These men have worked long and hard so lets give them the introductions they deserve! Fighting out of the Red corner at a weight of 270 lbs, standing at 6'3, hailing from Los Angeles, California: Emmett 'The Crusher' Cullen!"

A chorus of boos sounds with only a small section of cheers, I can hear Esme in the background letting out a litany of curses in Spanish. I don't speak the language but I know that she's cursing because it's the only time that she speaks her native tongue. I guess in her mind as long as no one around her understands what she's saying she is still a well bred lady.

My heart sinks as the announcer continues, "And fighting out of the Blue corner, at a weight of 285 lbs, standing at 6'5, and hailing from just down the road in La Push, Washington…"

As he says La Push the majority of the crowd screams it with him drowning him out for a moment before he continues, "A proud member of the Quileute nation, Paul 'DIIIIIIIIIRE' Dixon!"

The place almost literally erupts, the crowd is screaming, stomping their feet, and clapping all at once for this man and he throws his arms up soaking it in. I turn my face into my dad's chest, as he strokes my hair, "It's okay Bells."

I look up at his face, tears in my eyes, "How does he even stand a chance Daddy? Listen to that crowd!"

Dad soothes me, "Bella the crowd doesn't decide the fight, Emmett knows what he's fighting for, he knows **who** he's fighting for! He's not going to let this crowd intimidate him. He'll do the best he can baby girl."

Doing my best to concentrate on Em's form and tune out the commentary I watch as they go to the middle of the ring, the ref comes out and goes through the rules, I can't pay attention to what they're saying, all I can do is watch him.

The fighters go to their corners, I watch as Peter puts a mouth guard in Em's mouth, he grips his head and talks to him close, telling him God only knows what. Finally he slips out of the ring, Emmett scans the boxes, and I stand up without thinking. He spots me, and points to me before punching his chest lightly over his heart and pointing back at me again. His smile with the guard in isn't the same but it reassures me some, and I do my best to smile back at him as I blow him a kiss and sit back down.

The bell rings and he goes into the ring his fists up meeting the other man in the middle. They circle each other, bobbing, and weaving, dancing around each other it seems until finally his opponent, Dixon, has had enough. He comes in with a sharp punch to Em's side and I see Em flinch as he absorbs the blow.

Dixon follows it up with a flurry of body shots and I can't help the little shriek that escapes my mouth as I watch my fiancé taking hit after hit. He looks surprised, like he didn't know what was coming, but then the mad takes over.

Em comes back with a punch to Dixon's head, a sharp blow that connects, it barely phases Dixon, he shakes it off like it was nothing. Em continues to throw his punches, head, body, body, head, head. With every punch his opponent takes the crowd boos, with every punch Dixon evades they cheer.

I hold my hands over my eyes, peeking through the barest crack between my fingers. Esme is yelling curses in English now, her ladylike behavior a thing of the past, the twins look bored, Edward has headphones in his ears, Alice has her cell phone in her hands and is texting.

Emmett has started evading Dixon, circling him, I think that he's gaining the upper hand until Dixon lets loose a torrent of blows to his midsection, just when I think that I can't stand it anymore the bell rings signaling the end of the round.

****Paul POV****

The bell rings and I immediately stop my blows and retreat to my corner, Sam squirts water into my mouth, I swallow the barest amount of it, swishing the rest around and spitting it in the bucket that he holds in front of me.

Dad grabs my face, looking in my eyes as he points to the other corner, "This guy is not a JOKE Pauly! Stop takin it easy on him! I want to see you hitting, use your fists! You got that round easily but it's still early! **Stay** on the attack!"

Nodding I feel the adrenaline building as the bell rings and I leap off the stool. Crossing to the middle of the ring I meet Cullen and the dance begins again, he wants to circle, but I'm not playing his game anymore.

He's protecting his face, dumb ass pretty boy leaving his body wide open, I jab him with a left, right, right, right, left. He comes in and goes for a right hook to the face which I dodge and he turns into a hold. Holding, in the second freaking round, did this guy train for this fight at all?

Shoving him off me I break the hold, taking the opportunity to punch him in the face, a quick jab to the face that knocks him back, and again opens him up for the body shots that are quickly taking a toll on his stamina.

Maneuvering him I work him back towards the ropes, alternating now between body and head shots. I get him to the ropes and I'm almost relieved when he comes back, throwing a good solid punch to my gut, backing me up a little. He throws a loping right at my head and it hits me to the side of my eyebrow.

I feel the skin split, blood trickles down my face. The idiot has the nerve to give me a big cheesy grin, it incenses me, he has the nerve to fucking gloat about landing one hit? I manhandled him for almost an entire round!

Gritting my teeth, I come back with a hard right and connect solidly with his left eye, dazing him. The bell rings and I immediately go back to my corner. My Uncle Josh, Sam's father, is my cut man.

He puts a cold towel on my eyebrow, decreasing the blood flow, and follows it with a cotton ball soaked in epinephrine pushing it hard applying pressure to the wound to staunch the flow of blood.

Sam gives me another squirt of water, as my Dad comes into my face, "Pauly lets get this done, that guy is on the ropes. He's landed one lucky shot in 2 rounds. Don't let him get another one!"

Uncle Josh applies a small stream of a coagulant from a medical syringe without the needle tip into the cut, and finally puts a smear of petroleum jelly to protect the skin.

I've been swishing the water around in my mouth while this has been going on, and finally I spit it into the bucket that Sam has been holding while I nod at my dad. He's right, Cullen is ripe for a third round knockout, and I'm the one who's gunna give it to him.

The cut on my eyebrow stings, but I still feel good, still feel strong. Sneaking a peak over at Cullen's corner I see him huffing and puffing while his trainer yells in his face. His father is pressing an enswell, a flat piece of metal that has been kept on ice, against his swollen and bruising eye, and also yelling in his face.

I almost feel bad for him, his trainer needs to find a real cut man, get his father out of there. The man is undermining the trainers authority, and I can hear him from here giving contradictory instructions.

Sam gives me one more squirt of water, I repeat the swish, and spit just as the bell rings. Cullen comes out swinging this time, unfortunately for him he's swinging like a foot away from me. Moving in I take advantage of his fatigue, and hit him with a square shot full on right to the face.

His head snaps back, blood sprays through the air. I can tell his nose is broken, and when he continues to go back I know that I've won. Cullen drops to the mat with a thud, the ref is counting, "1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10!"

Just like that the fight is over. I raise my arms over my head in victory, the bell rings, the crowd goes **insane**, Sam, Uncle Josh, and my Dad are in the ring shouting. Dad pulls me into his arms whispering into my ear, "You did it Pauly! You did it!"

I squeeze him, whispering back, "Nah Dad, we did it!"

Dropping the embrace, the crowd is still going nuts, and the ref takes my arm raising it in victory as the official from the North Western Regional Boxing Association brings the belt into the ring.

I can feel the grin on my face, powerful enough to light up a city block, the official hands me the belt. I stare at it, taking it in, it's a wide swath of blue leather with a gold plating on it, the placard for the name is empty, that's something that will get taken care of by the Association tomorrow I would guess.

I raise it above my head, turning as the crowd gets somehow louder, giving everyone the opportunity to see it. A reporter comes up to me, "Dire! Dire how do you feel?"

Laughing I reply, "How do you think I feel man! I feel freaking amazing! I want to thank my Dad, Dad without your guidance I wouldn't be here today! I want to thank everyone who works in my corner, Sam, my best friend, Uncle Josh, my Cut Man, we're a team and I couldn't have done it without them! Most of all I want to thank the entire community of LA PUSH! They all took the time to come out, to cheer for me…"

I'm cut off as the crowd reaches a level that is absolutely deafening, as they alternate chanting my name and La Push. The reporter looks absolutely stunned, and as they calm down slightly he says to me, "Damn this is really your crowd!"

The grin that has not left my face since Cullen hit the mat goes wider if possible, and I reply, "Well I'm their fighter so it works both ways! Thank you, everybody! I love you all! This is for La Push, and all the Quileute!"

The crowd reaches deafening status again and the reporter thanks me for my time before going to check in with Cullen's camp. His trainer has him propped up in the corner, his father is screaming in his face, and I honestly feel bad for the man, everyone deserves a dad who supports them, not tears them down lower at their lowest point.

Sam grabs my arm, "Lets get the fuck out of here and CELEBRATE man!"

That sounds good to me. Lifting the belt over my head in celebration one last time I turn slowly in place letting the cheers wash over me, before going back to the corner, and making my way slowly back up the ramp.

Dad will take care of whatever needs to be taken care of, right now I just want to get a shower, change into some regular clothes, meet up with my boys, and party like it's going out of fucking style!


	3. Ch 03: Aftermath

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and chapters may contain graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations. **

**A/N: This chapter is going to have a third person section showing what's going on with the Cullen's in the wake of Emmett's loss, it will be brief! Oh, and Billy isn't in a wheelchair in this story!**

****4 hours later, about 2:45am****

The time after the fight had gone by in a blur, I showered, changed, and then had the ring doctor look at my face. He had dabbed super glue into the cut and pinched it together until the glue held. It would heal, I'd probably have a small scar, but I looked a hell of a lot better than Cullen probably did.

Now we're just pulling into La Push and I'm ready to hit the sack. Sam had wanted to go out and celebrate, and truthfully so did I, but that would be for later tonight. Seattle was just too far from home for us to go out and party, and then drive home. Dad had met up with my mom and gotten a hotel room for the night, he'd be going to the NWRBA headquarters to pick up the belt with my name on it along with my winnings, and also stopping into the sponsors offices to pick up the checks.

I was slated to make a good 300k after taxes. About 25 percent of that would be given to programs to help improve the housing around the Res, last year's summer storms had really done a number and there were a lot of people still living with tarps on their roofs because they couldn't afford to put on a new one, 10 percent would be given to the food bank, and another 15 percent would go to the health clinic for new equipment.

Sam pulls up in front of my house, turning to catch my eye with a grin, as he playacts holding a microphone in my face, "Paul Dixon, you've just won the North Western Heavyweight Championship belt, what are you going to do next?"

Laughing, I grab his wrist and talk into his hand, "Well, I'll tell you Sam! Tomorrow, I'm gunna sleep until noon, and then, I'm going to watch bad daytime TV until it's time to go down to the Rec Center for my party and the presentation of funds to the tribe, and after that, I'm goin with my 3 best friends down to Port Angeles, going to a club, finding a girl, and I'm gunna get LAID!"

Sam laughs long and loud, the two of us laughing so hard we have tears streaming down our faces. Wiping my face off, careful to avoid my eyebrow I grab my bags, "Thanks Sam, for everything."

He nods, "Don't mention it man, I'm the one who should be thanking you."

We sit there for a minute before it starts feeling a little too cheesy, and I grab my bags and get out of the car, telling him, "I'll call you tomorrow."

Leaning in the open window, I waggle my eyebrows at him, as I tease, "Give your Ol' Lady a big ol' kiss for me okay?"

He laughs, "You wish! I'll talk to you tomorrow!"

****Meanwhile Back at the Cullen's hotel****

Carlisle paces the exquisite carpet in the living area of the Cullen's suite at the Alexis Hotel in Seattle, a blind person could tell that he is beyond pissed. Emmett, his adopted son, sits in front of him, completely dejected. His face is bandaged and bruised, and he's just happy that his fiancé went home with her dad directly after seeing him after the fight.

Carlisle turns toward him and starts in again, "What in the name of all that is holy WAS THAT? Tell me Emmett, did we NOT train? Did we NOT _prepare_ for this fight? Did I NOT spend exorbitant amounts of money to get you the best trainers, the best foods, the best equipment? To be beaten by that, that, HEATHEN! You should be ashamed at that showing Emmett! I am ashamed **for** you! We did this the way you wanted to do it, obviously that didn't work! No. Tomorrow is going to be different. We're going to do it the way I said to do it from the beginning…"

Emmett cuts his father off, knowing where it's heading, "I'm not using PED's Dad! It's illegal! It's _cheating_! Even if it wasn't, I'll get caught! Don't you remember the testing we did!"

Carlisle smiles a greedy smile, "Didn't I tell you son? One of my affiliated practices starting on Monday is going to be the new testing company used by the North Western Regional Boxing Association. Dr. Marcus Volturi, an old, OLD friend of mine is going to be the new chief testing doctor. Hell if you want you can even go back to your nasty old habit of smoking a blunt at night when you go out. Your tests will **always** come back clean."

Emmett stares at his father blankly, "I don't want to win that way Dad."

Carlisle looks at him disgusted, "Have I taught you nothing? Winning is winning, and **winning** is **EVERYTHING**! We've been going over this and over this since you joined peewee football 15 years ago! Being good doesn't cut it in this world son! Do you think if you keep losing, and you let your face get beat to hamburger again and again and again that that pretty little fiancé of yours is going to stick around?"

The stricken look on Emmett's face tells Carlisle that he picked the right nerve to grind, and he grinds it a little harder, "Why do you think she was so _eager_ to go home with Charlie after the fight tonight? She could barely look at you! And after your mother and I spent so much money on a suite for the two of you! Ungrateful little hick, she's lucky she's a beauty."

Emmett looks at his father with a scowl, "Don't talk about her like that! She's not like THAT!"

Though any good parent would feel bad, Carlisle continues to push the button, now that he's found the right one, he'll push it until his son caves, "Please Emmett, she knew what she was getting when she met you, God knows you weren't that good looking up until you hit your last growth spurt the year _after_ you met her. Did you think she was with you for your **brains**? Trust me my dear boy, she's with you for the money and for the notoriety. If you can't give her that she'll find someone else who can!"

Emmett's face falls, he gives a mighty sigh wincing as the air rips through his broken nose, and finally he breathes out the one word that will make his father stop, "Fine."

Carlisle can barely contain his glee, "I'm sorry?"

Emmett looks at him disgusted, "I said, 'fine'. I'll do it, whatever you want. I'll do whatever it takes to keep her."

****Paul POV the next evening around 7:00****

Sam meets me at my place with his wife, Leah, in tow. The two of them have been together practically since grade school, they have the kind of love I hope to have someday, though, not today.

Leah hugs me as soon as she's within grabbing distance, screaming in my ear, "I can't believe you won! Congratulations, I'm so happy for you!"

She immediately bursts into tears and I step back from her, feeling my eyes go wide with worry, "If you're so happy for me why are you crying?"

She dabs her eyes with a handkerchief, "Sorry! I don't mean to blubber all over you Paul! It's the damn hormones!"

Leah freezes, and I look from her to Sam who has this huge idiot grin on his face, "Oh shit! You mean, I'm gunna be an uncle again?"

They both nod, and I cross over to Sam and punch him half strength in the shoulder, "That's awesome man! Why didn't you tell me before?"

He looks a little sheepish as he replies, "We were waiting until after the fight so that this way if you lost you'd at least have some good news coming to you. Not that _I_ thought you would lose."

He looks pointedly at Leah, who just shrugs, "What can I say, I always gotta give some faith to the underdog. I watched that press conference, that white dude was huge!"

Raising an eyebrow at her, I ask, "and what am I?"

She shrugs again, "I guess you're huge too, but I've seen you almost every day for practically my whole life! I'm used to you."

I shrug back at her, "I guess I can understand that. Come on, we're gunna be late."

Heading outside I'm happy to see that they brought Leah's car instead of Sam's truck, we're all dressed somewhat nice and Sam's truck almost always has paint, sawdust, or grease on one seat or another.

We make our way to the Rec Center and head inside. The whole town is seemingly in attendance, and everyone I pass reaches out to pat me on the back or shoulder as I make my way to the front of the seating area that they set up around the ring where Dad is sitting with my mom and my grandma. I hug my mother, and give my grandmother a hug and a kiss before sitting down beside her and taking her hand in mine.

Chief Billy Black, the rest of the elders, and Chief Black's son Jacob are sitting at a long meeting table in the middle of the ring

Chief Black raises his hands for silence and a hush falls over the room. He stands up and grabs a microphone walking over to stand by the middle of the ropes, "We're here tonight to honor one of our own! A young man who has done our tribe proud with every action. A young man who has never forgotten where he comes from! I'm talking of course, about Paul 'Dire' Dixon! With his first major payday as a professional fighter Paul funded the improvements to this facility. He also put in place the after school programs that so many of our youth get so much enjoyment out of. Today we honor him, by renaming this facility the Paul 'Dire' Dixon Youth and Recreation Center."

He has a plaque and I get up taking the envelope with the checks in it from my dad as I get into the ring. I shake Chief Black's hand as I take the plaque, flashbulbs go off and we both smile for the camera. Sam comes to the edge of the ring and takes the plaque as Chief Black hands me the microphone.

I take it with hands that are shaking a little, my throat feels a little tight as I start to speak, "Wow. If you had told me 10 years back that I'd be standing here in this ring having this building that I love so much renamed in my honor… Well knowing myself as well as I do I have to admit I probably would have told you 'Well, duh!' Still this is just such an honor. I want to thank every single one of you who came out to the fight last night, I could not have done it without your support! My love for this community, the place where I grew up, the place where I still live, well it's only surpassed by the love I have for my family, and that includes every single person in this room! Without the love and support from my family, and my community, I would not be in the position that I am in today. That's why I want to say thank you."

Chief Black comes back up to me, and I hand him the envelope, "In that envelope there are 3 checks, one is for the housing improvement fund. I promise you that if you are a member of a household that is still living with a tarp on your roof from last summer that your roof will be replaced before this summer is over. The second check is for the La Push Food Bank. The Food Bank helps families, it helps senior citizens, it's helped my own family a time or two over the years through hard winters. Finally, the last check is for the La Push Community Health Center to update their equipment. The Health Center has been serving the community since before I was born, and some of their equipment is that old! I just want to say that it is a pleasure, and an honor to be able to do these things for my community, and for my people! Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, thank you La Push!"

The crowd cheers and claps, Chief Black puts a hand on my shoulder as he leans into the microphone, "No, thank you Paul."

Dad brings the belt to ringside, I grab it from him and hold it high over my head. Chief Black and the rest of the elders gather around me and I see the reporter in the first row now as he snaps our picture.

The formal part is over now, and I can relax and just mingle with the people. I exit the ring and head back over to my grandmother. She's beaming with pride and I can't help but smile.

Sitting down next to her I ask, "How are you feelin today? I know you were a little shaky earlier this week."

Grandma laughs, "Well, I think that was more because all I was thinking about was my one and only grandson facing that gavoon Emmett Cullen! I'm much better now that it's over and the outcome went the right way! I can't tell you how proud I am of you Pauly! Look what he did to your handsome face though baby boy!"

I wave her off with a grin, "I'll still be handsome when it heals, don't you worry Gramma. Besides, if you think this is bad you should see him!"

She sniffs indignantly, "No thank you. Are you going to come around this week? I'll bake you some cookies now that you have some time to relax and not worry about keeping up your diet."

Giving her a kiss on the cheek I smile, "I'd come around even if you didn't bake the most awesome cookies ever Grandma. How's about Thursday?"

Grandma nods and squeezes my hand as Sam comes up, "Hey Mrs. D. How are you?"

She smiles up at him, "I'm good Sammy, how about you?"

Sam grins, "I'm great! Leah and I are gunna have a baby the end of December."

She lets out an excited scream and stands up to give Sam a big hug, "Congratulations Sammy! You and Leah are going to be great parents. Do me a favor and maybe help my Pauly here find a nice girl to settle down with."

Sam grins slyly, "I'll do my best. You know how picky Pauly can be when it comes to the ladies."

She smirks a bit, "Yes, well, you try anyway. Now the pair of you get on out of here. I know you didn't get a chance to celebrate after the bout last night! Get out of here and have some fun! You've earned it!"

Laughing I wrap my arms around her and hug her tight, "Thanks Gramma, I'll see you on Thursday. Give me a call if you need anything."

Sam hugs her next and we wave to my parents as we meet back up with Leah who's already ready to go, "Are you two heading over to pick up Jared and go down to PA?"

I look at her confused, "Aren't you coming?"

Leah waves me off, "Psh, no, I'm 3 and a half months pregnant Paul, the last thing I want to do is go to a club where I have to watch skinny bitches drink and push up on my man. You guys go, have a great time! Let Sam and J wing man for you!"

We all laugh and I give her a hug, "Thanks for being one cool bitch, Lee."

She nods, "Yeah, yeah, just know that if anyone gets too friendly with him it'll be you I come after all hormonal and pissed off!"

Getting back in her car she drops us off back at my house, and Sam takes his time giving her a long loving kiss as I go into the house. Taking off my tie I drop my dress jacket and grab a short sleeved dress shirt throwing it on over top of a black wife beater. After exchanging my dress shoes for a pair of steel toed docs I head back out to where Sam is just finishing saying goodbye to Leah.

The one fancy thing I had bought myself with my winnings was a fully restored vintage Dodge Charger in matte cherry red. It was my baby, and I loved driving it. Getting into the drivers seat I wait for Sam to hop in.

Finally he lets Leah pull away from the curb and comes and gets in the car. I turn on the radio and put in a Hatebreed CD as I pull out of the driveway and make the 3 block drive to Jared and Kim's place.

Pulling into their driveway I honk the horn twice. J opens the door and holds his hand out in the wait a minute gesture. The door opens and I see Kim holding their 3yr old daughter, Kylie, dressed in a pair of Barbie pajamas up for J to kiss goodbye. He gives his daughter a hug and a kiss before giving Kim one and heading to the car.

He hops in the backseat, and claps me on the back, "Congrats on the win man! Sorry we couldn't make it down, Kylie's had a bad cold this whole week. Kim's staying home with her tonight cause we couldn't get a sitter."

Frowning slightly, I ask, "Does she want you to stay with her man? I feel bad pulling you away from them if my lil niece is feeling under the weather."

He waves me off, "Nah she understands how much we all need this night out. Besides, she wants me to wing man for you and help you find a nice girl to settle down with."

Rolling my eyes, I laugh, "Damn women! Between, her, Leah, and my Grandma I'll be lucky to make it to 22 with my rep still in tact!"

We make good time down to PA, Sam and J share a joint on the way down, I decline because even though I don't have any fights scheduled for the next 3 months or so, you never know when an opportunity is going to present itself.

We head to the door of the club, and the bouncer stops us, "Hey wait a minute there fellas, I can't let you in with no chicks. You know that!"

Sam rolls his eyes, "Dami, man, do you know who this is?"

Dami, a guy I remember from high school takes a better look at us, "Holy shit! Paul Dixon man. Sorry Dire, go right in! I won 500 bucks last night because of you!"

I give him a smirk and follow Sam and J inside. We head straight to the bar and I order 3 shots of Jager, handing one each to Sam, and Jared, "Well Boys, here is to great friends, a great night, and beautiful ladies to either go home with or home to!"

We clink the shot glasses and down the shots before pounding the glasses on the bar and letting out a celebratory whoop. Scanning around I see that the club is full of possibilities, it looks like there are 2 bachelorette parties meaning that Sam and J can dance with the brides to be while I get to take my pick of the bridesmaids!

I grab the bartender, who happens to be another guy we went to high school with, by holding up a 50 dollar bill, "Dude, I want a round of whatever those ladies are drinking sent over on me and my boys! Put it on my tab, this is for you"

Jesse does a double take as he recognizes me, "Sure thing Paul man! It's great to see you! Jared, Sam."

J and Sam shake his hand as he pulls a waitress over and gets the drinks ready. The 2 parties are at booths next to one another and we follow the waitress over. She sets down the tray and starts off loading drinks. The brides to be look confused, and one of them, a blonde, exclaims, "Hey, wait, we didn't order these!"

The waitress smiles at them, "Well it just so happens that these gentleman behind me ordered them for you!"

The brides look a little skeptical, and the blonde one asks me, "You know I'm getting married, right?"

I smile at her, "That's okay, my boys here are both already hitched. The shorter one has a 3yr old at home, and the tall one has a baby on the way, their wives and my grandma really wanted them to wing man for me tonight so I figured I'd make it easy on them. You brides can dance with them, don't worry they won't get fresh with you, their girls would full out kill them if they did. And I can get to know some of your friends."

The blonde now looks awe struck, "That's so sweet of you! I was worried that I'd be fending off jackasses left and right tonight. Come sit down with us, This is Alicia, Amy, and Caitlin, they're all single. Deanna's boyfriend is coming to meet up with us later along with Sarah's husband."

The other bride, a cute redhead with big green eyes, does a double take, "Hey! I know you! You're Paul 'Dire' Dixon, aren't you! You just won that big fight last night!"

Smiling I reply, "That's me. It's nice to meet you…."

She takes my hand shaking it lightly as she replies, "Beth. Beth Calloway. My fiancé is a **huge** fan of yours. Do you think you could sign a napkin for me to give to him? He'd just die to have your autograph!"

Sam hands me a pen with a smirk, and I sign the napkin, 'To Beth and your future husband, I wish you many years of happiness -Paul 'Dire' Dixon'

I hand her the napkin and she folds it and puts it in her purse quickly. The music thumps and Sam takes her hand, "would you dance with me Miss Calloway?"

She smiles and lets him lead her to the dance floor, Jared and the blonde follow them out leaving me with the bridesmaids. The hottest one is Caitlin, she's a small latin girl with just the right amount of curves and a thick head of dark curls that flow down to the middle of her back. I hold my hand out to her, "Would you like to dance?"

She smiles and takes my hand letting me lead her out to the dance floor. The music is going at a frantic pace and we fall into a rhythm. Losing track of time I laugh as we dance, she moves her body sensually against mine, and I let my hands flow over her hips as we dance close.

Someone taps me on the shoulder and turning I find a short frat guy, who asks, "Hey dude, mind if I cut in?"

She shrugs, and I smile, "sure, go ahead."

He takes her hand, and I decide to go get another drink before looking for another partner.

Going back to the bar I get a bottle of beer and sit with it watching the crowd. I spot Cullen coming in with his girl, I know neither of them are 21, and I'm a little surprised that Dami would risk his job doing something so stupid, but hey it's not my problem.

I can't say that I'm unhappy to see the damage I did to his pretty boy face. His eyes are both blackened, his nose is completely covered in tape, and I can tell from how stiffly he's walking that he has at least 3 bruised ribs. What the fuck he's doing here tonight is absolutely beyond me. Fuck me, if I was him tonight I'd be at home letting my pretty fiancé pamper the hell out of me.

Cullen sees me as he approaches the bar, and his grip on his girls waist tightens. She looks around, and sees me. Our eyes lock for a moment before she drags hers away. She says something to Cullen and the look on his face softens as he releases her. She heads in the direction of the bathrooms, and I get up and start to follow.

Cullen cuts me off, "You need something from **my** fiancé, Dixon?"

Rolling my eyes at him, I shake my head, "Actually, I was gunna go drain the snake. You wanna give me a hand or something?"

He sneers at me, "Stay away from my girl. Otherwise I'll give you a beating you won't soon forget."

Chuckling softly I shake my head, "Really? Have you forgotten the one I gave you just last night? A quick glance in the mirror should help you out with that."

Side stepping him, I continue on my way to wait for the girl to come out of the bathroom. I don't know why I feel like I need to speak to her, but I do. Pacing around in front of the ladies room door, when she comes out I nearly knock her over. Shooting my arm out to steady her I joke, "We have to stop meeting like this."

She bites her lip, hiding a smile, and I feel my pants tighten slightly, as she breathes out, "Sorry. I should be looking where I'm going."

Still holding her arm gently, I ask, "Is everything okay? You look like something is upsetting you."

She shakes her head, "Look, I really shouldn't be talking to you. Em wouldn't like it."

I tilt my head at her in confusion, "Do you usually let him tell you who you should and shouldn't speak to?"

She shakes her head, and in that same small voice replies, "No, he doesn't. I just meant, I have to go."

I reach out to stop her, but Cullen's voice cuts in sharply, "Bella!"

He stomps over to us, and she looks worried and slightly frightened, as he puts himself in between the two of us, getting up in my face, "What did I fucking tell you about talking to my fiancé? What? You haven't got enough skanks to fuck between here and the Reservation?"

Her small white hands grip his arm, "Em, please! He wasn't saying anything to me, I just almost knocked into him on my way out of the bathroom. Come on."

He rips his arm out of her grasp, almost sending her flying. I see Sam come up behind her and steady her as she teeters on her heels. His voice is hard, and angry as he snaps, "You just almost hurt your fiancé, Cullen! Paul, come on, lets go! It's starting to get late."

Cullen looks at the girl with worry, and just a hint of anger in his eyes before stomping away from all of us.

Sam saying it's starting to get late is code for lets get the fuck out of here before this ends up in the papers. I nod at him, "Alright."

I see him slip a card into the girls' bag as he says, "if you need anything, a safe place to go, a ride, anything, use the number."

Her face snaps up, and for the first time she meets his eyes, "Emmett has never and would **never** hurt me. I don't even know you people. I just, I have to go."

She scurries away, tripping every other step in the 4 inch heels that she was wearing in an attempt to get close to her fiancé's hulking height. Sam shakes his head, tsk tsking as she gets back to the bar and attempts to make things right with the brooding child known as Emmett Cullen, "That's a damn shame. She seems like a sweet little thing."

Worried now, I ask him, "You don't really think he's gunna hurt her, do you?"

Sam shrugs, "We both saw the way that dudes' dad was ripping into him last night in the middle of the ring, Paul. She was telling the truth when she said he had never hurt her, but I think if push comes to shove, with the amount of pressure that guys father is piling on top of him, give him enough of a trigger, and he's gunna fuckin snap. I just hope that girl of his is nowhere near him when that happens."

Nodding, I agree with him, "Yeah, you and me both man."

Sam looks like the light bulb just went off, "Dude, you like her!"

Rolling my eyes, I wave him off, "Come on, lets go find J, and get the fuck out of here. I'm tired."

Sam walks off to find Jared, and I head to the bar to close out our tab, it's not too bad, just over 200 bucks what with the drinks that we had bought the girls. I lay the cash down on the bar and add another 20 on top of the 50 that I tipped Jesse earlier, "It was great to see you man."

We shake hands, and I can hear a scuffle break out on the dance floor. Turning I see Cullen being separated from some guy. I roll my eyes, as Jesse scoffs, "Damn! I knew we'd have trouble from that guy. Dami lets him in here every other month or so because his fiancé is smoking hot, and it's always the same shit. He gets two shots in him, and thinks anyone who looks at his girl is trying to take her. Dami'll be lucky not to get shit canned this time. Especially if that jealous ass actually hurt someone."

Sam and J come up to the bar, "Aight man, lets get the fuck on out of here."

They shake hands with Jesse and we head out of the club, and get on the road back home.


	4. Ch 04: Interlude

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and chapters may contain graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations. **

****Two Weeks Later****

"Unca Paul, Unca Paul! Come make a castle! Pweeaase!"

I smile as I feel 2 feet 5 inches of giggling brown haired sunshine crash into my legs. A rare sunny and warm day in La Push, Sam, Leah, Jared, Kim, and I thought it'd be a good day to take Kylie to the beach. Jared laughs, "Kylie honey, I don't think you're gunna be able to knock Uncle Paul over that way."

Grabbing my niece under her armpits I hoist her up onto my shoulders as she shrieks, "Unca Paul too high!"

She grabs my hair and I hold her firmly by her hips, "Just hold on Kylie, I won't let you fall. At least, not until we get to the WATER!"

I run carefully over the sand to the edge of the water and wade out until I'm in up to my waist. Kylie laughs, "Unca Paul, tall!"

Being careful to hold on to her, and keep her head above water, I submerge myself dunking myself in the water, she shrieks and pulls at my hair as I move her around in front of me as I move out slightly, holding her tight as she splashes and screams in delight.

She clings to me as Jared comes out into the water, and I whisper in her ear, "splash Daddy, lets get him good."

Kylie laughs and just as J gets over to us we both splash him, laughing as he coughs and sputters, "Geeze! Thanks you guys! I thought you were supposed to love me!"

Kylie gets a serious look on her face, and exclaims frantically, "I love you Daddy! I love you!"

She reaches out for him, and promptly bursts into tears. He takes her from my arms, hushing her lovingly, "Shh, baby, I know you love me. Daddy was just kidding. I love you too. Come on, you want to go see Mommy? Or should we swim some more? Maybe we can find something pretty to bring Mommy from the ocean."

She buries her head in his chest still snuffling, "I want Mommy!"

Jared strokes her hair as he gives me the 'well what can you do' look, and carries Kylie back to shore where Kim is waiting with her beach towel. Scanning the shore I see a small group of teenagers from Forks that I don't know, looking farther down I see Chief Black and his son Jacob, and shit, Rach and Becca too.

As far as I knew the girls hadn't been back since before their mom passed away from cancer just before our high school graduation 3 yrs ago. Getting out of the water I go back over to where our group is sitting, nodding in the Black's direction, "Look who's back."

Leah lets out a whoop, and grabs Sam's hand pulling him along the beach as she heads over to the Black's. Jared and Kim shrug, and go back to setting Kylie up with her lunch, and I throw on a black Everlast t-shirt, and follow Sam and Leah down the beach.

Leah is hugging Rachel when I get there as Rebecca looks on smiling with a little boy at her feet who's probably only about a year old, and a big dude who is clearly Samoan beside her. Chief Black sees me and comes over, "Paul! Good to see you, son! I'm sure you remember my daughters, Rachel and Rebecca. This is my son in law Sol, and my grandson Will. He's Becca and Sol's little boy."

He clears his throat, "Rachel! Come say hello to Paul!"

Rachel looks up, her eyes wide, "Paul? Paul Dixon! Oh my God! It's so good to see you! Dad and Jake told us all about your fight! Congrats on the win!"

She stands a little too close, and I take a step back. Not for nothing, this is the Chief's daughter, and I know _way_ better than to shit where I eat. Smiling politely I reply, "Thanks Rach. It's great to see you guys again. Bex, your son is adorable, congratulations."

I'm about to make an excuse to walk back over to J and Kim, when I hear Leah call out, "Uncle Charlie! I didn't know you were coming down today!"

A man I vaguely recognize as one of Leah's father's friends comes up to the group, "Well you know it's not every day the sun shines so beautifully in our neck of the woods, and I wanted to make sure I got a chance to see Rachel and Rebecca before they leave at the end of the week. Plus, my daughter is back from visiting her fiancé, so we decided to make a day of it."

Leah smiles stiffly, "Oh, that's great! Well, we should probably get going."

The man notices me for the first time, "Hey, I know you! You're Paul 'Dire' Dixon. I was at your fight a couple weeks ago. Congratulations on the win."

Smiling I reply, "Thanks, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

He sticks his hand out, "Charlie Swan. I'm the police chief up in Forks."

Chief Black interjects, "Charlie and I, along with Leah's father Harry, have been best friends since we were boys!"

Swan, Swan…where have I heard that name before? I shake the mans hand politely, still drawing a blank, when I hear a sweet and somewhat familiar voice, "Dad! Uncle Billy! You didn't tell me Rach and Becca were home!"

Turning I feel my eyes widen as I recognize the girl as none other than Cullen's fiancé. Her eyes meet mine, and widen in surprised recognition, a small smile crosses her face, and she breathes out in almost a whisper, "Hey."

She gets a little louder as she jokes, "I guess this is a better way to meet then our usual."

Chuckling, I smile at her, "True. I don't think we've ever actually been introduced. I'm Paul. Paul Dixon."

She gives me a smirk as if to say duh, and politely sticks her hand out, "It's nice to meet you Paul. I'm Bella Swan, I see you've met my dad already."

In an instant the bubble that had seemingly surrounded the two of us when my eyes met hers popped, and I could hear the ocean, and the conversation of my friends again. Leah is talking to Becca about pregnancy while giving me a wary glare out of the corner of her eye, Rachel is pouting, and talking to Sam, Sam looks bored and is trying to make eye contact with Leah, and Chief Black, Jake, and Mr. Swan are all talking about the Mariners chances for the season.

Her dad and Chief Black distracted, I take her hand and raise it to my lips, kissing it gently, "It's nice to meet you Miss Swan."

She arches an eyebrow at me, but doesn't pull her hand away until Rachel catches sight of the ring on her finger, and exclaims, "OH WOW! That is some **ring** Bella, honey! Who's the guy?"

The second Rachel yelled, Bella pulled her hand back from me as though scalded. She smiles unsteadily as she turns her attention to Rachel, "His name is Emmett, Emmett Cullen."

Rachel looks confused, "Didn't he just have a fight with Paul here?"

Bella's face falls a little, "Yeah, he did, dad and I were there. We watched it from one of the skyboxes, it was at the ShoWare Center."

Leah's voice is high and mocking, "Oh, one of the skyboxes, that must have been really nice for you! It's too bad that your man **lost**."

Sam gives her a warning look, as he apologizes, "Don't mind her, she's hormonal. Leah, _honey_, lets go back over to Kim and J."

Bella's eyes actually flash, as she responds, "Don't apologize for her, she was a bitch _way_ before you knocked her up. I seem to remember it being a chronic condition for you Leah. Yes, my fiancé lost his fight, but he tried his best and that counts for something in my book."

With that she spins on her heel and walks off down the beach. Leah scowls after her, before turning back to Billy, "Sorry Uncle Billy, Uncle Charlie. Sam's right, I am hormonal, and Bella's right too, being a bitch is just my gift in life."

The two of them laugh, and Charlie pats her on the shoulder, "It's okay Leah, Bells has been kind of touchy since she got back from LA."

His eyes shift to me, regarding me with a frank knowing that is honestly a little frightening, as he says, "I'm guessing there's some _trouble _ in paradise. Cullen is a nice kid, his family on the other hand… Well sometimes the apple **does** fall far from the proverbial tree. Anyways, the two of you have always had tension. Maybe one day you'll realize that the both of you are too much like Harry and I to not end up as friends."

J and Kim come up to us, Kim holding a sleeping Kylie, and J holding their stuff. They greet Billy politely, "Chief Black, it's nice to see you, we're sorry to interrupt."

He replies, "Not a problem Jared."

J turns to me and Sam, "We're gunna head home. Kylie's beat, and Kim and I aren't far behind. We'll give you a call tomorrow."

I nod, "Cool. I need a sparring partner tomorrow, I think Sam has a doctor's appointment with Leah. Do you want to fill in?"

He nods his head vigorously, "Sure thing man. What time?"

Thinking a minute I reply, "Around 10 good for you?"

He nods, and Kim gives me a grateful look, "Thanks for thinking of him, Paul. Come around for dinner tomorrow night?"

She hugs me with her free arm, reaching up on tiptoes to whisper in my ear, "I can tell you like her Paul. Engaged ain't married, you should go talk to her, if things are getting shaky she's going to need a friend, from what Leah's told me she doesn't have too many."

Keeping my face carefully blank I pull away, nodding at her, "I'll let you know about dinner. Thanks for the invite hon."

J and I bro hug, and he follows after Kim back to the parking lot. Mr. Swan looks around for a minute or two before saying, "I should go look for my daughter."

Sam shoots me a look as if to say 'Paul man go', and I nod at him, "I'll go find her Mr. Swan."

Leah interrupts, "That's **Chief** Swan, Paul."

The man laughs, "Charlie is fine. It's okay, I'll go find her."

Sam nudges Leah, and it's like the light bulb goes off. She looks at me with mild disgust, and rolls her eyes, "Uncle Charlie, let Paul go find her! I wanted to talk to you about Mom and Dad's upcoming wedding anniversary. I'm thinking of throwing them a party."

He looks surprised, but turns to me, "I guess if you don't mind going to look for her I would appreciate it."

I nod, "It's no problem Chief Swan."

He smiles again, "Please, call me Charlie, and thank you."

I nod again and thankfully Leah captures his attention again leaving me free to turn and head in the direction that the girl had gone off in.

Walking down the sand, I round the curve of the beach, and see her, sitting by herself on a piece of driftwood that someone had arranged as a bench of sorts.

She looks upset, and I approach her slowly. Coming up beside her quietly I tuck my hands into the pockets of my baggy black swim trunks, figuring that she would feel safer that way, "Hey. Are you okay?"

She looks up at me, blinking away the wetness in her eyes and straightening up. She pulls on this mask of quiet calm, and replies, "Hi, yeah, I'm fine. It's weird for me, being here."

Confused but not sure whether I should pry, I let the silence linger. I can hear my grandmother in my head scolding me, 'Pauly, you help that girl!', sighing, I ask, "Why?"

She looks up at me again, carefully hiding her emotions, "Why what?"

Rolling my eyes a little, I ask, "Why is being here weird for you? Your dad seems pretty comfortable being here."

She laughs, "Oh yeah, he loves it here. He'd move down here if he could, I wish he could, he'd be happier. He'd be so much closer to Billy and Harry, and I wouldn't have to worry about him being alone."

I look pointedly at the empty space beside her, and she gestures with her hand for me to go ahead and sit down. Sitting down the space is smaller than it looked, and her hip and thigh are pressed firmly against mine.

We stare out at the ocean for a minute before I break the silence, "You didn't answer my question."

She sighs, "Why do you care?"

That's a good question. Why do I care? I look at her out of the corner of my eye, she's beautiful, there's no question about that. Her pale skin with just a hint of peachy undertones, her eyes, large and innocent, vulnerable. Not to mention she's got a pretty hot little figure. Shit, I'm starting to feel like she's Little Red Riding Hood, and I'm The Big Bad Wolf.

Am I attracted to her because since the moment I met her I could see the slight worry hiding behind those eyes? A worry that I can tell has grown each time I've run into her.

Am I attracted to her because she's with Cullen? Do I only want her because I can't have her? I'm broken out of my reverie by a small cynical laugh, "Stumped you huh? I should be getting back."

She gets up and starts to walk away. Shooting my arm out I grasp her wrist, firmly encircling the delicate bones with my hand, being careful to leave my grip loose so that she won't hurt herself even if she pulls away.

Looking just slightly upwards I meet her gaze, "You didn't stump me. I care because I can see something in your eyes, and apparently I'm the only one seeing it. Something's got you spooked girl. You've looked borderline frightened every time I've seen you, and either it's me, or it's something else. And if it's me then I'm sorry, and I'll get up and leave you alone, and if it's not me I'm not going to pry, and I'll just tell you that I care because at the very least, you look like you need a damn friend Bella."

Breaking off, I take a breath, "Look, I know that you don't know me from Adam, and I know the things that Cullen's probably told you about me aren't very nice, but I really am a pretty nice guy, and you seem like a nice girl, and I'd like to be your friend, because you honestly seem like you need one."

She looks down at me with a little fire in her eyes, and I wait for her to snap at me the way she snapped at Leah. Finally she lets out a sigh, running her hand through her hair as she says, "Emmett is pushing me to move in with him at least for the summer…In Los Angeles. Sort of a dry run for when we get married. My Dad…I don't even know how to bring it up. I don't **want** to bring it up. I know he's going to freak, and I dunno I'm just..."

She takes a ragged breath, running her free hand through her hair before adding, "It doesn't really matter, Emmett is under a lot of stress, and I don't want to make it worse on him, so it's probably going to happen."

Looking up at her, I shake my head, "Honestly Bella, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. He's stressed out so you're going to _move in_ with him to try and make him feel better despite knowing that it's not what you want?"

She shrugs, "Well when you put it that way it sounds stupid, but I'm his fiancé. I should live with him! Shouldn't I?"

I shrug back at her, "No. I don't think you should. Not if you know in your heart that you aren't ready for it."

She gives a deep sigh, "I guess that makes sense… Look I don't know you, I'm really sorry that, for whatever reason we keep running into each other, and that apparently, I look frightened when I see you. You don't scare me. I've heard good things about you from my dad, Billy, and even Jake likes you and he's never voluntarily told me good things about a guy I asked him about, but Emmett is my fiancé. I've known him for a really long time. He's one of my best friends, and I love him very much. I also know that he wouldn't like me sitting here with you. So I'm sorry but we can't be friends."

Standing up, I shrug at her, "Why can't we? Because I'm a guy and you're a girl who has a fiancé? Leah and I are friends. She has a husband, why is it okay for her and I, and not you and me?"

Bella shakes her head, and gives a sad little shrug, "Her husband is your friend. My fiancé would be just as happy to throw a punch at you as he is to say hello to you. That's the difference. I'm sorry."

She stands up, giving me a weak little smile as she turns away from me, "Maybe we'll run into one another again sometime. I have to get back to my dad."

Nodding as I sit back down on the driftwood, and watch her walk away, hips swaying lightly as she rounds the curve of the beach and out of my sight. Damn. What the fuck was that.

Staring out at the ocean, my mind wanders, I didn't know this girl, why am I so concerned about her? I've had this one conversation with her, and I'm trying to tell her how to live her life? What is that?

Leah's voice startles me, "This is a mistake, Paul. How do you even know her? Bella's not the type of girl to hop in bed with a guy she just met so I doubt she's one of your conquests."

I cut her off sharply, "Mind your own business, Leah."

She sniffs indignantly, "You're my friend Paul. You're **Sam's** best friend. You're practically the big brother I never had, and you think it's not my business? Get this through your head Paul, she ain't worth it. Whatever crap she's running on you to get you in her business…"

Having had just about enough I cut her off, "She isn't running ANYTHING on me! I don't even know her, and frankly Lee, I don't know what you're talking about. I've run into her a few times, we had a little spark. I know she's Cullen's girl, and you know me, sometimes I just want what I can't have. Maybe I just want to break up her perfect little romance."

Leah laughs, shaking her head in disbelief, "Yeah, and maybe I'm Audrey freakin Hepburn! I know you Paul. This girl got under your skin, and quick! I've never seen you like this over a girl, and you tell me you don't even know her? You're lying, and now I'm thinking maybe I'm wrong about Bella not being the type of girl to hop into bed with someone she just met…"

Catching her eye, I narrow my eyes in a warning glare, and she quickly closes her mouth as I cut in, "Just stop Lee! For once in our lives, please, just stay out of it! Yes, okay, I like her. I don't know why I feel drawn to her, but I do, and honestly I'm fucking worried about her. Her fiancé, and his family are a bunch of scumbags and you can even ask Sam. He'll tell you if I'm wrong. He's worried for her safety just like I am Lee."

Leah shakes her head, "The two of you are blind. I've known Bella my whole life. She would **know** if Cullen had a wire or two loose. _**Charlie**_ would see the signs. I've seen them together Paul, not for a while but I've **SEEN **them. He _worships_ her. Hell if I didn't have Sam I'd be fuckin jealous as shit of her and her relationship with Cullen. The two of them are good together, I may not like Bella a whole hell of a lot, we've never really gotten along, but she's not stupid Paul. If she had a reason to fear she'd be out of the relationship. She'd **go** to **Charlie**."

I interrupt her again, "Yeah, because it's so easy for a girl to go to her DAD, who just happens to be the Chief of Police, and tell him, 'Daddy I think I chose wrong.', I mean give me a break Lee. You obviously know her a lot better than I do so fine let's say I'm wrong. It really doesn't matter what either of us says here. She's gunna move to LA to make Cullen happy."

Leah shrugs, "That's probably for the best, Paul. You'll forget about her. You don't even know her after all."

Rolling my eyes I give a sarcastic laugh, "that's right. I don't. Seriously Lee, the first time I ever met that girl was the day before the fight. Come on, Sam must be worried about you by now. I'm surprised he hasn't shown up and interrupted us yet."

I stand up and Leah and I make our way back down the beach to where Sam is just finishing up getting all their stuff together along with my backpack which he tosses to me. Catching it by the strap I nod at him, "Thanks. I'm gunna head home. See if Dad wants to work out. Good luck with everything at the Dr.'s tomorrow. Let me know how it goes. I have J coming in to spar with me, so you can take the whole day off Sam, spend time with the wifey."

Leah smiles at me, "Thanks Paul."

I nod at her, still not completely ready to make nice, "Yeah. Don't mention it. I'll talk to ya tomorrow."

Heading back to the parking lot I wave by to them as we separate and I take the drive back to my house. Sitting in the driveway I can't help but wonder if this thing with Cullen's girl is as stupid as Leah believes. It probably is, but hold on, thinking back I try to remember what she said when she told me she wasn't afraid of me, '_I've heard good things about you from my dad, Billy, and even Jake likes you and he's never voluntarily told me good things about a guy I asked him about._'

She had asked Chief Black about me? No, the way she had said it sounded more like her Dad and Chief Black had talked about me where she could hear them, but she definitely had said that Jacob had never told her good things about a guy she had _asked_ about.

Well that's interesting… She asked Jake Black about me. Doesn't help me find out exactly what she asked him. I only knew Jacob because he was the Chief's son, we were a couple of years apart in school and we didn't run with the same crowd.

Getting out of the car I walk up the path to the door. I get to the door, and it dawns on me; I don't know Jake Black, but Leah does. Sighing in frustration I remember Leah's negative response to Bella at the beach, yeah, I doubt she'll be helping me out on this.

My dad greets me as I walk in the door, "Pauly! How was the beach?"

I shrug, "Same as it ever is. We had fun though."

He gives me a long look, "What's eatin at you Pauly?"

I gotta give it to the old man, he always was perceptive. Heading towards the kitchen I reply, "Nothing. Really. You wanna work out?"

He shrugs, "Not tonight. I want you to rest tonight. I'm gunna work you hard tomorrow. Tonight, I want you to work through whatever is '**not'** bothering you."

Rolling my eyes at him I head upstairs, calling down behind me, "Alright Dad. See you in the morning. Love ya Pop."

He calls up after me, "Love ya too Son."

Going to my bedroom I kick my shoes off and flop down on the bed. Dad's right. I have to work through this. Fuck it. This is NOT a problem. She's just a girl, she's the **enemy's** **girl**. Chances are within a week she'll be back to LA and Cullen's parents' estate. She is NOT my problem, and she is **not** my friend or anything else.

This is my grandma's fault, her, Kim, and Leah with their 'let the guys wingman for you', and always telling my friends, 'find Pauly a nice girl to settle down with.', and let's not forget Kim with her, 'talk to her she could use a friend'. That's just stupid. Besides, even if I did have a thing for Cullen's girl it was just an attraction, no big freaking deal, I'm not even looking for a relationship, I have a career to think about.

That gets the adrenaline going a little. I have a career to think about. I repeat that a few times in my head. I have to focus on my dreams, I can't be mooning over some chick like a brain dead idiot. Shake it off Dire! Forget about Bella Swan.


	5. Ch 05: Bella

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and chapters may contain graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.**

**Warning: This chapter is going to deal with some hard themes including pre-cursors of domestic violence. It is not an easy chapter. Domestic violence is NOT okay, it is NOT romantic, and it is NOT love. If you are in a relationship that sounds like this one…I hope you get out before it escalates. Talk to someone, a friend, a counselor, someone you trust, do not suffer in silence.**

**A/N: Just to let everyone know that this chapter is going to be a lengthy(rare) Bella POV and is going to re-hash some of the previous chapters. Any of you who know me know that I do not like to rehash whole chapters in other characters POV's, b/c for the most part I feel that it is unnecessary and jarring to the flow of the story, but I really feel that in this story it is a necessity as it will provide a lot of detail to Bella's character, as well as her and Emmett's relationship. **

****BPOV from Emmett's locker area just after his loss****

Dad and I approach the locker room with Em's name taped on the door. All I can hear is Carlisle yelling. Dad wraps a comforting arm around my shoulder, and hesitantly reaches out to knock on the door.

Peter opens the door, "Bella. This isn't a good time. He'll meet you back at the hotel."

He starts to close the door, and Dad holds it open with his forearm, "She's not going to any hotel. I told Carlisle that I wasn't comfortable with it when he told me about it. She wants to see him. Ask **him** if he _wants_ to see **her**."

Peter looks uncomfortable, and turns around clearing his throat, "Ahem…uh, Carlisle…"

Dad cuts him off, "I meant for you to ask Emmett."

Em's face snaps around to look at the door, and my breath catches in my throat. Oh my God. It's all I can do to stop myself from running at him and wrapping my arms around him. He looks so upset, so torn down. Peter's voice breaks into my thoughts, "Emmett, do you want to see Bella?"

He attempts a smile, wincing at the pain, his face is bruised almost beyond recognition, his eyes are puffy and beginning to blacken, his nose is smashed and still bleeding if the cotton wadded in his nostrils is any indication, but still he gives it his best shot at sounding upbeat, as he says, "Of course I want to see my favorite girl! C'mon over here, Sugar."

I laugh at his attempt to copy Jasper's accent, and rush forward flinging myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck. He winces and lets out a little moan, "Easy, Baby, I'm a little broken here."

My eyes fill with tears, as I fuss over him, smoothing his sweat soaked hair back and out of his eyes, "I'm sorry, Honey. I didn't mean to hurt you."

He laughs a little, and the sound fills me with warmth, "You didn't hurt me baby, that Quileute wrecking machine did. I'm so sorry that I let you down, Baby Girl."

Bending down to kiss his forehead, the only place on his face that doesn't look swollen, I whisper, "You have never let me down, Em. I love you. It doesn't matter to me if you win or lose."

He reaches out, brushing his hand lightly over my face, "Are you coming to the hotel?"

I shake my head sadly, "Dad isn't comfortable with it, I'm gunna go home with him. I'll see you at LAX next week when I come to visit."

He nods, "I'll miss you every second that you're away from me. Maybe I'll get up to you sometime before next week."

Smiling at him, I carefully kiss his lips, he sucks lightly on my lip before letting me break away, "I'd like that."

Charlie clears his throat, and addresses Em, "I'm sorry that you lost, Son. I know you did your best though, you'll get him next time."

Em smiles wanly, "Thanks, Chief. It means a lot that you came."

Dad nods, "Well, I wanted to be here for Bella, she was mighty upset watching you take that beating."

Groaning in embarrassment, I say, "DAD!"

He shrugs, "Well you were."

Em traces the curve of my cheek with his finger, "I'm sorry you were upset, Honey. Trust me, I know I look a little worse for wear, but I'm okay. I promise."

Carlisle clears his throat, "I think the two of you had better go, I have to set my sons injuries. It was good of you both to come. Thank you."

His tone is frosty, and it's clear that his request is more of a demand. I give Em one last kiss, "I'll see you soon. Love you."

He nods, "I love you too, Beautiful. See you soon."

Dad takes my hand, and guides me out of the locker room, and out of the arena to where the cruiser is parked, "You ready to head home Bells?"

I nod, "Yeah, I'm tired."

****Time Skip****

By the time we pull up at home it's almost 2:30 in the morning, I stretch in the front of the cruiser. Dad gets out of the car, and I follow him back into the house. He turns to me by the steps, "You okay Bells?"

I nod, "Yeah Dad. I'm alright. I knew going into this that there was a chance that I'd have to see him take a beating. I just, I wish it didn't bother me that he was hurt. He's doing what he's dreamed of doing for a long time. I should be happy he got the opportunity, instead I'm just sad that he's hurting and disappointed."

Dad nods back, "I understand what you're saying Bella, and for what it's worth, I don't think Em did a bad job. You were right about the crowd too, I could see that Dixon was feeding on their energy, it helped him a lot. I have to say Bells, I think that half Emmett's problem…is Carlisle."

Feeling a little uncomfortable, I ask, "What do you mean?"

Dad sighs, "Bella, honey, quite frankly, the man is an asshole! The way he was screaming in Emmett's face between rounds, totally contradicting Peter's instructions. I understand that the man is a doctor, and he is Emmett's father, but I think that Peter needs to tell him to shut it and let him do his job!"

Dad's right, I've been thinking it for a while. Whenever I would go to the gym and watch Emmett sparring with Garrett or Jasper, Carlisle would always be there, running over everyone. If Garrett clipped Em a good one, Carlisle would berate him, accuse him of trying to take Em's spotlight, and he'd make Em spar with Jasper instead. Jas is much smaller than Em, but he's crazy fast, and has a good amount of wiry muscle, and I had seen all of them spar on one of the rare occasions that Carlisle wasn't there, and with his speed and agility, he was able to duck almost all of Em's punches, while inflicting a decent amount of damage.

Mostly though, when Carlisle was there Jas would evade for a while, take a few soft shots, and then let Em land a punch and knock him down. I wondered sometimes if Em knew that the 'lucky fight' that J had when Carlisle wasn't there was really his actual ability level.

Emmett was good, don't get me wrong, he was great actually, but he didn't get half the workout he would get if Peter really had the reigns. Dad sighs, "Maybe if you talked to him, Bells. He'll listen to you. I love you, and you love him, and that father of his is going to drive him into the ground, Bells. The way he was screaming at him when it was over…it turned my stomach, Baby Girl. I felt horrible for him."

Nodding, I reply, "You're right. I'll say something when the loss has settled a little."

He nods, "That's probably a good idea. Let it all settle down. I love you, Baby Girl. Sleep tight. I'll see you in the mornin."

****The Next Evening****

My phone beeps, and I check it, I have a message from Emmett, _'Hey there, Beautiful. What do you say to goin out with me tonight? We'll go down to Port Ang, go to the club?'_

That's weird, he's supposed to be in LA. Texting him back, I reply, '_What do you mean? I thought you were home?_'

The doorbell rings and I run downstairs, I know Dad was expecting something from UPS so I figure that's it because it's about 7 o'clock. Opening the door, I'm almost numb with shock to see Emmett standing there. Even all bandaged up he makes my knees just a little weak, he's wearing a white wife beater that clings to his abs, and I can see the tape wrapped around his upper torso, keeping his ribs in place. Over top of the wife beater, he's wearing a deep red short sleeved button down over black slacks.

Once I get done ogling him, I exclaim, "EMMETT! Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I would have cooked something!"

Coming in the door, he laughs, though it obviously pains him, "Well I couldn't wait to see you. So I figured I'd come up and we'd go out!"

Looking at him in disbelief, I ask, "Seriously? Em you just had a fight last night! You're hurt, and you wanna go down to the club? Why don't we just chill here? Have a quiet night in?"

His eyes darken slightly, "What? You don't want to be seen with me? I look too grotesque for you?"

Frowning at him in confusion, I ask, "Em. Why would you say that? You're gorgeous honey. I just, I know that your ribs got cracked, I don't understand why you want to go to a crowded club and chance having assholes jostle and bump you."

His face clears a little, "Oh. I just want to have a good time, Baby. I want to show you off a little. So sue me."

He pulls a bag out from behind his back, saying flatly, "Alice sent these for you, she said to tell you to wear them, and don't argue."

I expect the easy grin that I've always known, for him to smile at me, wink, and tell me he doesn't care what I wear and that he'll tell Alice that I wore what she sent anyway to keep her off my back. It doesn't come. He continues to hold the bag out, and I take it with trembling hands.

He smiles, it doesn't reach his eyes, "Go get ready, we're burning time."

Heading upstairs, I go into my room, and shut my bedroom door behind me. Pouring the bag out onto my bed, I'm a little disgusted to see that Alice had even gone to the trouble of throwing in a bra and panty set. Yeah, definitely not wearing that.

The door clicks open behind me, and I turn, as Em comes in. He looks at me funny, as though he's mad, "I picked out the underwear. It's brand new."

Biting my lip, I reply, "Oh. Uh, thanks? I think."

His face clouds, "are you gunna get changed?"

Emmett, and I had seen each other naked before, it isn't like I'm a virgin or anything, but Em isn't acting normally. Frankly he's making me nervous standing there staring at me, and looking angry for some reason that I can't place. I know he's had a tough loss, I don't blame him for being down, but something else is going on here and he's honestly kind of scaring me.

The door opens downstairs and let a sigh of relief escape my lips as my dad calls up, "Bella! Is Emmett up there with you?"

Emmett scowls, "What is your dads' fuckin problem? I've known you for almost 6 years! We've been together for almost that entire time! I put a damn ring on your finger, and still I get treated like a fucking skell every time I set foot in your bedroom. Does he still think you're some lily white virgin Bella? Is that it? Daddy doesn't want to believe that his little angel would spread her legs for her fiancé?"

Staring at him in disbelief, I call down to my dad, "Yeah Dad. He is. He'll be down in a minute."

Turning my attention back to Emmett, I flounder for the right words, "I just, I can't believe that you would say that, Em. Baby I love you, and my dad has no problem with you as a person, or as my fiancé. That being said, this is his house, and he makes the rules, and if you have a problem with him, or with me, then you can leave. I'm really not feeling like going out tonight anymore anyway."

His face darkens again, his eyes glare at me so hard I can barely breathe from fear, then, in an instant, it's like the switch flips, his brow smoothes out, and he takes a deep breath, "Bell. Honey, I'm sorry. I don't know why I said those things. Dad has me taking some new supplements, I must just be moody from the adjustment. Please, please come out with me? You might even have fun."

He crosses over to me, and wraps his arms lightly around my waist, "Please, Honey?"

Brushing my hair away from my neck, he leans in, running his lips softly over my skin, bringing goose bumps to the surface, and a moan to my lips, "hmmm. Okay. Not too late though, okay?"

He nods, "Sure, we have to catch the jet in the morning anyway. My parents are expecting us for lunch."

I'm about to ask what he's talking about, but he turns, and goes out the door. Going back over to the bed I sink down onto it, letting out a ragged breath. What the fuck is going on with him? He's behaving completely erratically. This is not the Em I know.

I had met Emmett back when I was just 13. It was summer after seventh grade, and I was at the diner waiting for my dad to come pick me up, when in walked the most out of place family I had ever seen in Forks. The dad was blonde and perfect, the mother caramel haired with a heart shaped face, a scowl on her lips, and obviously expensive designer clothes. The twins had been 12 at the time. Alice was the first one I met. She came up to me with her haughty attitude, "Have you **ever** shopped at an _actual_ store before?"

I had looked at her like she was an alien, and Emmett had come over, "Don't mind Alice, she doesn't have a filter. It's nice to meet you, I'm Emmett, Emmett Cullen."

Alice just shook her head, and went back to her mother. Em had stayed, "So you live here? Like all the time?"

I looked at him funny, "Yeah. Did you just move here?"

He nodded, "Sort of. My parent's bought a summer place here. So what's your name?"

Smiling at him, I replied, "Bella Swan."

He smiled, "That's real pretty. Like you. How old are you?"

I remember feeling star struck that he had called me pretty, as I told him I was 13. He told me he was 15, and asked me if maybe we could hang sometime, I could introduce him to some people. My dad had pulled up then, and I had to say goodbye. Em had grabbed a pen off a nearby table, he pulled a napkin out of a dispenser and wrote 'EmMC1535 on aol. Hit me up.'

That was how it started. Dressed now in the purple leopard print skin tight dress, I look back to the bed and see shoes that the clothes had been covering. Fuck. 4 inch fucking heels. Fucking skank BITCH Alice! She knows I HATE heels! She KNOWS I can't walk two steps without stumbling in them, so what does she send me? Fucking heels.

Sitting down on the bed, I sigh a little, it's partially frustration as I strap the 4 inch purple stilettos onto my feet. Mostly though, it's plain old sadness. I don't understand how everything could just change so fast. The Emmett I knew was always full of smiles, especially for me, now he's just angry, cold, he goes from laughing to scowling in the time it takes me to take a breath. His mood is all over the place, and I feel like I'm sinking in quicksand.

Grabbing my long black duster jacket I put it on over the barely there dress, buttoning it down to my knees. The less my dad sees of this outfit the better. I grab my purse and head downstairs, taking the stairs very slowly, holding onto the railing tightly as I make my way down. Emmett and my dad are watching a ball game, they're talking and joking just the way they always do, and I feel my heart lighten. Maybe he's snappin out of it, just needed to spend a little time with a supportive male role model.

God I hope that's it. He smiles at me, and it even reaches his eyes this time, "There's my girl! Come gimme a kiss, Babe."

Walking as steady as I can I trip my way over to the couch and sink down next to him. My dad eyes the shoes, "Alice?"

Emmett laughs, "Yeah.", he turns back to me, "You didn't have to wear those honey, you know I would have just told her you did anyway."

I give him a funny look, but play along, not wanting him to go back to angry brooding Emmett, "Oh, I thought maybe I'd give them a try this time."

He smiles, "That's cool."

Standing up he takes my hand and pulls me up off the couch, "C'mon, we should get goin.", he turns to my dad, "Later, Chief."

Dad looks at me, "Bells, honey why didn't you tell me you were goin down to LA for two weeks starting tomorrow? I'm not going to tell you that you can't go, but next time, please just let me know ahead of time what your plans are?"

I nod, feeling dazed, "Sorry Dad, I'll make sure that I keep you informed next time."

LA? Two **weeks**! STARTING TOMORROW? What the hell! While my thoughts are racing, Em is practically carrying me through the house and out the door to his rental car. He opens the passenger door, and practically throws me into the seat, before slamming the door closed.

He comes around, gets in, and starts the car. He seems agitated, and edgy as he gets on the road to PA. Looking at him, I venture quietly, "Em?"

He grunts in response, "Hm?"

Biting my lip nervously, I make sure to keep my voice even, as I ask, "LA for two weeks? That was a, uh, nice, surprise."

He nods, "Mom and Dad figured that since Charlie was such a wet blanket about the suite that we could use some time. They're giving us one of the guest houses to use while you visit. It'll be like we're married already. I'll go out every day to train and stuff, and you'll have dinner waitin on me when I get back. It'll be great. Mom, Alice, and Rose will keep you company during the day. Maybe we'll have dinner up at the main house a couple of times."

He goes on like that for a while, I tune him out as I think about how fun the next two weeks are **not** going to be. Alice, Esme, and Rose will spend the entire time trying to change me into a "proper" lady. They're going to torture me, and probably enjoy every minute of it. Right now, even knowing that I get to spend two weeks in Em's arms at night isn't doing much to make me happy, instead I feel like I'm trapped with a stranger in my fiancé's body.

Finally we get down to PA, it's around 11:30, the club is already packed. Em pulls into the parking lot, and finds a spot. Getting out, he comes around, and I've barely gotten my seatbelt off when he's pulling me out of the car. He sets me down on the pavement, and locks the doors, "Come on."

He walks away, and I'm forced to try to keep up with him in the ridiculous shoes. Quickly I fall behind, "Em. Baby wait up!"

He stops, his whole body tenses, and he snaps, "Ya know if you wore decent shoes more often you wouldn't be so damn slow!"

Picking up my pace, I do my best not to fall. Coming up next to him I walk by him, and he grabs my wrist a little harder than I would like, as he harshly whispers, "Don't you walk away from me."

I stop in my tracks, and look pointedly at his hand on my wrist. It tightens painfully, and I let out a little cry. That seems to snap him out of it, he looks at his hand on my wrist as though he can't figure out how it got there. Pulling away as though I burned him, he runs his hands through his crop of black hair, "Shit. Baby I'm sorry, I don't know why I grabbed you that way."

He takes my arm very gently and strokes his hand lightly over my wrist, "Are you okay?"

Tears are in my eyes, not from pain, but from fear, he hadn't really hurt me, it had been like a sharp sting but the second he had released it the pain had gone away. I blink away the tears, not wanting to ruin the tiny bit of makeup that I had on, "I'm okay. I know you didn't mean it. It's been a rough 48 hours."

Nodding in acknowledgement, he wraps an arm around my waist, keeping me steady as we make our way to the door of the club. Dami, the clubs bouncer knows us, he knows that neither of us are 21, but Em generally slips him a couple hundred bucks to get us in.

Em shakes his hand, I see the flash of a bill, "Dami! How's it goin man?"

Dami grins at him, "It's going well, Mr. Cullen. Mrs. Cullen you look beautiful tonight as always."

He always calls me Mrs. Cullen, the first time we had come here had been just under a year ago for my 18th birthday, just after Em proposed. Emmett had slipped him 200 bucks, and told him we were a newlywed couple to get him to let us in. It was kind of a joke now.

My response is lost when Emmett pulls me lightly through the door of the club giving Dami a harsh look. He takes me to the coat check, and puts the ticket in his pocket. Heading into the main area of the club Em guides me towards the bar. Halfway there he stops short, and his arm goes almost painfully tight around my waist.

Looking around to see what could have caused his agitation, I see the man I know to be Paul Dixon at the bar. Shit. Of course he would be at this club. He's from La Push and this is really the only nightclub that you can go to around here unless you want to go all the way to Seattle.

My eyes lock with his, he has beautiful eyes, right now they look like a brown, but in the ShoWare Center they had been a deep green. Knowing that if Em catches me staring at Paul 'Dire' Dixon that he's going to have a freak out of epic proportions I drag my eyes away. Leaning in to Em, I say, "Em, Honey, you're hurting me a little, and I have to go to the ladies room."

His face softens, as he releases his hold on my waist. Moving away from him I head quickly for the ladies room, thankful that by some miracle there is no line. Leaning over the sink I stare at myself in the mirror. The dress leaves very little to the imagination, the push up bra that Emmett had supposedly picked out had pushed my girls up and out leaving me with a substantial amount of cleavage.

Honestly, in my opinion I looked like a very expensive hooker, which I guess is how 17 yr old Alice dresses down in LA. Closing my eyes I can't help but think just how badly I want to go home. I don't want to go to LA, he hadn't even _invited_ me, just said 'we're going'. He's going to leave me with his mother, his sister, and Edward's nasty bitch girlfriend almost the entire time I'm there while he trains, what's the point?

Taking a breath I really feel like crying, but I know that if I embarrass him here he's going to be mad, and I really don't want to do anything to set him off again. I can see a faint bruise coming in where he grabbed my wrist. Digging around in my purse I find a black bangle bracelet that I had thrown in a couple of weeks ago and forgot about, it's wide enough to hide the bruise and I slip it on.

Taking one more deep breath, I steel myself for anything, and head back out the door. As I step out into the club, a man nearly runs me over, he grabs my arm to steady me, and I recognize the warm rough voice as he quips, "We have to stop meeting like this."

A smile plays on my lips, I bite my lower lip to hide it, as I breathe out, "Sorry. I should be looking where I'm going."

He keeps his hand on my arm, his touch sends little waves of electricity through me. It scares me a little. His voice is low, sexy, and rough, as he asks, "Is everything okay? You look like something is upsetting you."

Realizing that Emmett could come looking for me at any minute, I pull my arm away from him, and my voice is much more timid than I would like as I reply, "Look, I really shouldn't be talking to you. Em wouldn't like it."

His head tilts in confusion, his green eyes boring into me, I feel like he can see my soul as he asks, "Do you usually let him tell you who you should and shouldn't speak to?"

Shaking my head, the meekness is still in my voice as I answer, "No, he doesn't. I just meant, I have to go."

I start to walk away, he reaches out, I guess to stop me? Whatever the reason, that's when it happens. Em's voice angrily yells my name, "Bella!"

He stomps over, getting in between us, and getting up in Dixon's face, snarling, "What did I fucking tell you about talking to my fiancé? What? You haven't got enough skanks to fuck between here and the Reservation?"

Trying to avoid a fight breaking out I grip Em's bicep, exclaiming, "Em, please! He wasn't saying anything to me, I just almost knocked into him on my way out of the bathroom. Come on."

He jerks out of my grasp, sending me off balance, I teeter on my heels knowing that I'm probably going to fall on my ass. I'm surprised to feel a pair of hands on my back and shoulder, steadying me. Turning I see another man of obviously Native descent, he must be a friend of Dixon's, and he looks at Emmett with anger in his eyes, as he snaps at him, "You just almost hurt your fiancé, Cullen! Paul, come on, lets go! It's starting to get late."

Emmett's gaze snaps to me, I can see worry in his eyes, and also a flash of anger before he turns on his heel and stomps away from us.

Dixon nods at the other man, and tells him "alright.", answering some unspoken question.

The other man is in front of me now, he opens my purse and sticks a small white card in it, "If you need anything, a safe place to go, a ride, anything, use the number."

What is he saying? It takes me a second but I get it. He thinks Em is abusing me. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Sure he's been angry and moody tonight, but he just lost the biggest fight of his career! Who wouldn't be acting like he is?

Feeling a bit of anger, I snap my face up to meet this strangers eyes, how dare he assume that I would stay with a man who hurt me, "Emmett has never, and would **never** hurt me. I don't even know you people. I just, I have to go."

I make my way hurriedly back over to where Emmett is at the bar. It takes longer than I want because I stumble every other step in these stupid shoes. Finally I get back over to him, placing my arms around his shoulders as I whisper in his ear, "Please don't be mad at me? He really wasn't saying anything to me. He almost ran me over on my way out of the bathroom. He was just apologizing. Emmett you know that I love you!"

He relaxes a little, turning to face me, "I know. I love you too baby, just, I don't want him talking to you. He's a scumbag, a womanizer, he's not good enough to talk to you."

He downs his drink, and gets up, pulling me onto the dance floor. Hopefully things are going to be okay. We dance for a while, and then some idiot taps Em on the shoulder, "Can I cut in?"

Em's face darkens and he shoves the guy, "No you can't fucking cut in, you piece of shit! The fuck out of here!"

The guy has obviously been drinking, because he steps to Emmett, "Hey man, that was pretty fuckin rude! I just wanted to dance with her! She's so fucking hot man!"

Em has been ready to blow all night, and this guy is just the last straw, he punches him, and people around us start screaming. Dami runs in, and it takes him, and both the other bouncers to drag Em off the floor.

Dami looks at him in disgust, "What the fuck man! I'm probably gunna get fired for this shit! Get the fuck out of here, and don't come back!"

Em looks like he's gunna fight, Dami just shakes his head, "Unless you wanna be here when the cops show up, I suggest you and the Mrs. go on home!"

The woman from the coat check comes up with my coat looking apologetic. I take it from her feeling embarrassment rolling through me. We make our way back to the car silently and head back to my dad's. Em will sleep on the couch and maybe in the morning all this shit won't look as bad.

****One Week Later****

As I feared, being in LA sucked hardcore. Em left for training with his dad, and the guys at 5am every morning. Promptly at 9 Esme and Alice would invade the guest house. They would bring clothes, shoes, and various styling tools, and spend the next 2 hours playing what I now termed 'Bella Barbie'.

When they weren't changing my outside, they were trying to change my insides. Esme telling me all the things she felt a proper wife would do. Alice telling me that I was too nice. That I wasn't selective enough in my friends, that my standards were low.

It was all very upsetting, but I did my best to take it with a smile. Emmett was no help at all. When I complained he would tell me that I should be happy that his mother and sister were taking an interest in me. He was also pressuring me to move in on a permanent basis. I kept telling him that my dad would never allow it, his response was that I was almost 19 now, and what Charlie said really didn't matter. He also spent a large amount of time bad mouthing Charlie, and his 'old fashioned' rules.

We hadn't even had sex all week, not that I had really wanted to, but I thought that maybe it would improve his attitude a little. His dad apparently had told him that in ancient times athletes would abstain from sex while in training. He suggested that I was draining Emmett of his masculinity and strength… This crap from a DOCTOR!

The guest house had 2 bedrooms, and after the fifth night of trying and failing to get him to pay some attention to me he had suggested that I move into the other room, and take care of myself since I so desperately seemed to need a release.

Partially in anger, and partially because I just didn't want to be in the same room as this stranger wearing my fiancé's skin anymore, I had moved into the other room. Since then my contact with Em has been minimal. I'm not allowed in the gym anymore to watch him train, and frankly I don't even know why I'm here anymore.

****Another week later****

The past week had gone much the way the first had, and truth be told I was more thankful than anything to be getting the fuck out of Los Angeles. City of Angel's my ASS! City of Asshole's would be more appropriate.

Esme had tried to throw all my own clothing away, I had successfully snuck out and rescued it from the trash after everyone had gone to bed though. My bags were packed and we were getting ready to head to LAX.

Or I was, Em was sitting on the couch. A car beeped outside, and he turned to me, "Your ride is here."

Looking at him in shocked confusion, I ask, "My ride?"

He nods, "Dad rented a town car to take you to the airport."

Feeling anger building inside of me, I ask tightly, "You're not coming?"

He shakes his head, "Nope. You don't want to live with me, why should I waste my time going back and forth from the airport just to say goodbye to you when you should be staying here with me?"

My face twitches in anger, and I clamp down on it. Sighing, I reply, "Oh. Look, I'll think about it okay? I just, don't know how to tell my dad. Give me a few weeks to figure out the logistics?"

His face lights up, "Seriously?"

I nod, and he scoops me up, hugging me tight, "Awesome! I'm sorry that the last two weeks haven't been fun for you, Baby Girl. When you move in, I promise, everything will be different."

Faking a smile, my rational self is screaming in the back of my brain. Em kisses me, I force myself to kiss him back. This is normal, we're both adjusting, Em's been dealing with a lot. The least I can do is cut him some slack. Right?

He comes out to the car with me, loading my bags into the trunk, wrapping his arms around my waist he pulls me close, kissing me tenderly, "3 weeks Bella. You have 3 weeks to tell your dad that you're moving in with me, even if only for the summer. Otherwise, I'm coming up, and telling him myself."

He hands me my ticket, "I love you."

Forcing myself to smile in return, I reply, "Love you too."

****4 days later****

Pulling into the parking lot of the beach at La Push I rest my head on the steering wheel. What am I doing here? In my guilt over the whole moving thing I had agreed to spend the day with my dad, Uncle Billy, and Jake at the beach. Shit. Jake and I haven't hung out since we were 16! Talk about awkward.

When Em and I started hanging out we mostly hung out with Jake, and his best friends Quil and Embry. Jakes older sisters were Em's age, but they were usually at Leah's. By the time I was almost 15, things between me, Jake and the boys were changing. They would argue over who got to spend the most time with me. Of course, when Em was in Forks I would spend most of my time with him, which I thought was only fair since he wasn't around for the rest of the year.

When Emmett asked me out for real the end of the summer before my 16th birthday I had of course said yes. Jake and the guys hadn't been happy. They spent every minute I was with them after Emmett left to go back to LA trying to convince me that a long distance relationship was stupid. That it was okay to go out with one, or all of them because chances were Em was living it up in LA.

When I told Emmett when I talked to him, he told me that if they couldn't respect our relationship that I shouldn't hang with them anymore. As a result Jake and I started fighting a lot. Quil and Embry didn't bother me as much, they knew that I was serious about not talking to them if they kept it up so they backed off pretty quickly. Jake was the one who couldn't take no for an answer, and eventually I just stopped going down to La Push altogether, and Jake stopped coming with Billy when he came up to hang out with Charlie.

Letting out a deep breath, I get out of the car and head down the beach. I see my Dad and Uncle Billy right off, as I approach them I realize that Jakes older sisters are there as well, and I exclaim, "Dad! Uncle Billy! You didn't tell me Rach and Becca were home!"

I don't know if Dad or Uncle Billy replies, because that's when I notice him. Standing not 2 feet away from me is Paul 'Dire' Dixon, he turns to face me and I get caught up in his eyes, breathing out in barely a whisper, "Hey."

Shaking myself a little to break the spell he seems to have over me, I joke, "I guess this is a better way to meet then our usual."

He laughs, and it sends a shiver up my spine. His voice is low and a little gruff as he replies, "True. I don't think we've ever actually been introduced. I'm Paul. Paul Dixon."

Smirking a little, because duh, I know who he is. I stick my hand out, as I reply, "It's nice to meet you Paul. I'm Bella Swan, I see you've met my dad already."

I notice that no one but Rachel is really paying attention to us, a fact I'm grateful for when instead of shaking my hand, he raises it to his lips and kisses it gently, the stubble on his upper lip scratches lightly and it takes all of my willpower not to shiver as he replies, "It's nice to meet you Miss Swan."

Faking aloofness, I raise an eyebrow at him, continuing to let him hold my hand until Rachel practically screams, "OH WOW! That is some **ring** Bella, honey! Who's the guy?"

I roll my eyes a little, as I pull my hand sharply away from Paul's. She knows perfectly well who my fiancé is, yet I respond politely, "His name is Emmett, Emmett Cullen."

Rachel never was the brightest bulb in the box, but her fake show of confusion really takes the cake. She asks, "Didn't he just have a fight with Paul here?"

Feeling the dismay on my face, I can't help thinking about the fight and how much my life and my relationship has changed in just the last couple of weeks.

Shrugging it off, I reply, "Yeah, he did, dad and I were there. We watched it from one of the skyboxes, it was at the ShoWare Center."

Out of nowhere I hear the grating voice of Leah Clearwater, "Oh, one of the skyboxes, that must have been really nice for you! It's too bad that your man **lost**."

I recognize the man standing next to her as the man from the club the night after the fight, he gives Leah a warning look, and apologizes for her, "Don't mind her, she's hormonal. Leah, _honey_, lets go back over to Kim and J."

Taking in the way that Leah has her hand over her lower abdomen I can guess what he means by hormonal and I respond sharply to both of them, "Don't apologize for her, she was a bitch _way_ before you knocked her up. I seem to remember it being a chronic condition for you Leah. Yes, my fiancé lost his fight, but he tried his best and that counts for something in my book."

That said I spin on my heel and storm off down the beach. I definitely don't want to spend the day with Leah asshole Clearwater. Even less Rachel who was glaring at me and pouting the whole time that Paul was paying attention to me. He's the wild card… I can't deny the physical response that I have to him.

It's more than that though. I can't explain it, I'm drawn to him in a way that is completely and utterly terrifying. I'm an engaged woman. I should NOT be having these feeling about another man, especially a man that my fiancé can't stand!

I see the old driftwood tree that Jake and I used to sit on when we would come down here at night when we were just kids. Sitting down on it I try to relax, and watch the ocean.

I'm not sure how long I've sat here by myself, but at some point I went from watching the ocean and trying to relax to watching the ocean and wallowing in my upset confusion. A voice startles me a little, "Hey. Are you okay?"

Looking up, blinking away the wetness in my eyes, I see Paul Dixon standing over me, his hands in his pockets. Trying to look and sound nonchalant I answer, "Hi, yeah, I'm fine. It's weird for me, being here."

He looks a little confused for a minute, and then for some reason he sighs, as he asks, "Why?"

I know what he's asking, but I don't really want to get into it, especially not with him. So I'm careful to keep my face blank as I respond, "Why what?"

He rolls his eyes, which are a striking greenish blue today, and asks, "Why is being here weird for you? Your dad seems pretty comfortable being here."

I can't help the laugh that escapes me, "Oh yeah, he loves it here. He'd move down here if he could, I wish he could, he'd be happier. He'd be so much closer to Billy and Harry, and I wouldn't have to worry about him being alone."

He looks pointedly at the space beside me, thinking about it for a second I gesture towards it, indicating that he can sit beside me. He sits down and I guess he's a bit bigger than he looks because his hip and thigh press firmly against mine.

Staring out at the ocean in silence, I let myself relax for a minute. He breaks the silence, "You didn't answer my question."

Sighing in exasperation, I snap at him a little, "Why do you care?"

We continue to stare out at the ocean, the silence stretching on between us, letting out a small mirthless chuckle, I break the awkward silence before it can drive me insane, "Stumped you huh? I should be getting back."

Getting up I start to walk away. His hand shoots out and grabs my wrist gently but firmly. He only has to look up a little to meet my gaze. Watching the color of his eyes shift from green to aqua, and back again, I listen as he speaks, "You didn't stump me. I care because I can see something in your eyes, and apparently I'm the only one seeing it. Something's got you spooked girl. You've looked borderline frightened every time I've seen you, and either it's me, or it's something else. And if it's me then I'm sorry, and I'll get up and leave you alone, and if it's not me I'm not going to pry, and I'll just tell you that I care because at the very least, you look like you need a damn friend Bella."

He takes a breath and I'm not sure what to say, if anything. Fortunately he doesn't give me a chance to formulate a response, "Look, I know that you don't know me from Adam, and I know the things that Cullen's probably told you about me aren't very nice, but I really am a pretty nice guy, and you seem like a nice girl, and I'd like to be your friend, because you honestly seem like you need one."

Anger wells up in me, how dare he be so…right. Shit. Letting out a sigh I run my free hand through my hair, and dump my biggest problem right now in his lap, "Emmett is pushing me to move in with him at least for the summer…In Los Angeles. Sort of a dry run for when we get married. My Dad…I don't even know how to bring it up. I don't **want** to bring it up. I know he's going to freak, and I dunno I'm just..."

Taking a ragged breath, and running my hand through my hair again, I continue, "It doesn't really matter, Emmett is under a lot of stress, and I don't want to make it worse on him, so it's probably going to happen."

Paul looks me straight in the eye, and shakes his head, "Honestly Bella, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. He's stressed out so you're going to _move in_ with him to try and make him feel better despite knowing that it's not what you want?"

That's honestly the most accurate description of what I'm feeling that I've heard lately. Unfortunately it doesn't really matter, so I just shrug, "Well when you put it that way it sounds stupid, but I'm his fiancé. I should live with him! Shouldn't I?"

He shrugs back at me, "No. I don't think you should. Not if you know in your heart that you aren't ready for it."

Letting out a deep sigh, I acknowledge that he's right, even though I know it doesn't mean anything, "I guess that makes sense… Look I don't know you, I'm really sorry that, for whatever reason we keep running into each other, and that apparently, I look frightened when I see you. You don't scare me. I've heard good things about you from my dad, Billy, and even Jake likes you and he's never voluntarily told me good things about a guy I asked him about, but Emmett is my fiancé. I've known him for a really long time. He's one of my best friends, and I love him very much. I also know that he wouldn't like me sitting here with you. So I'm sorry but we can't be friends."

Shit, I hope he doesn't catch that I asked Jake about him. That had been one of the most awkward conversations I'd had in a while. He had come up to Dad's with Billy thinking that I was still in LA. They had got to talking about the fight, and I had heard the glowing things that Uncle Billy had said about Paul. So I waited till Jake went to the bathroom, and caught him coming out to ask him what he thought of him. Jake was surprisingly complimentary.

If he caught it though he gives no indication, he releases my wrist as he stands up, "Why can't we? Because I'm a guy and you're a girl who has a fiancé? Leah and I are friends. She has a husband, why is it okay for her and I, and not you and me?"

Sitting back down I shake my head sadly, and shrug at him, "Her husband is your friend. My fiancé would be just as happy to throw a punch at you as he is to say hello to you. That's the difference. I'm sorry."

This is just getting awkward now, and I realize that I've been gone for a while, and Dad must be getting worried. Standing up, I turn from him as I say, "Maybe we'll run into one another again sometime. I have to get back to my dad."

Walking down the beach I pass Leah Clearwater who glares at me as she heads in the opposite direction, towards Paul. Getting back to my Dad, I say, "I'm not feelin so hot dad. I think I'm gunna just head home."

Turning to Uncle Billy I say, "Sorry to put a damper on the day Uncle Billy."

He hugs me tight, leaning in to whisper in my ear, "Engaged ain't married Bella. If you're unhappy, you don't have to go through with it."

Sighing heavily, I just pretend I didn't hear him. He's right to an extent, engaged isn't married, but it was a commitment that I made, and one I intended to stick with. Emmett hadn't cheated on me, he hadn't hurt me intentionally, he was under a lot of stress. This whole thing is going to even out. It has to. Right?


	6. Ch 06: Road to the Rematch

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and may contain Graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.**

****1 week later, July 21st, Paul POV****

Dad greets me at the gym, "Pauly! Come over here!"

Going over to him, I see a couple of guys I don't know, "Hey Dad, what's up?"

He gestures at the two men, "These guys are here from the Cullen camp."

Looking at them with my eyebrows furrowed in confusion, I ask, "What do you want?"

The taller one answers, "Mr. Cullen **demands** a rematch! For the title!"

Raising an eyebrow at him, I scoff, "Really? Why would I give him a rematch? He was holding in the second fucking round! He doesn't deserve a match with me right now. Tell him that just because he lost to the champ, it don't make him number one contender. As far as I'm concerned, he's at the back of the line."

The tall one looks pissed, "Than we will bring it to the governing body. We'll take it to the NWRBA."

Snorting derisively, I reply, "Yeah? You're going to take it to the NWRBA? You go ahead and do that. This is boxing, not Professional Wrestling. Cullen isn't the defeated champ. We went into the match as 'equals', but we're not equal anymore. I'm on top, he's at the back of the line. You tell him to fight his way up, and I'll face him for the title when he's **earned **it."

Tall douche snorts back, "We'll see what the association has to say about it."

I shrug dismissively, "I guess we will."

The men storm out, and I turn to dad, "You think they'll give it to him?"

He shrugs, "I dunno, Son. It's probably a good possibility that if they don't want to initially his daddy will slip them some cash, and they'll end up giving it to him anyway. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Come on, go get ready and lets get started."

****Another week later. Still PPOV****

Getting ready to go to the gym I grab the mail out of the box and bring it inside. Flipping through it I see the water bill, my credit card bill, phone bill, advertisement, and a letter to me with the NWRBA logo in the corner.

Dropping the rest of the mail on the kitchen table, I grab the letter, rip it open, and start reading, '_Dear Mr. Dixon, The Cullen camp has formally requested a rematch for the title. This is an unusual request to be brought to the Association as fight scheduling is usually dealt with by the fighters in question. They say that they have approached you and that you have declined. As you have no matches lined up for the next 3 months we have decided to grant their request, and we ask that you schedule the fight for no sooner than August 18th, and no later than September 23rd. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Jason Haver, President, NWRBA.'_

You have got to be kidding me… I can't fucking believe they gave it to him! Money must have changed hands. Cullen and his fucking rich daddy. Seething, I grab my keys and take the letter with me out the door to my car.

Getting in, I make the quick drive over to the Rec Center. Getting out I slam the door, and head inside. My dad calls out to me, "Hey Pauly!"

Storming over to him I thrust the letter into his hands. He takes it, gives it a once over, and raises an eyebrow at me, "So what? What you all hot under the collar for? You knew there was a good chance they'd give it to him. We talked about this, and we've been going like we're in training anyway."

I sigh, he's right. We had talked about it, and we had been going under the assumption that they would indeed go in Cullen's favor. Really I was just mad that the rich asshole had decided to buy his rematch rather than earn it. Just one more reason he wasn't good enough to face me.

Shrugging, I reply, "I know. I'm just pissed that the douche decided to buy his fucking rematch. They may as well put an asterisk next to the match and be done with it."

Dad shakes his head, climbing down from the ring, and getting in my face, "Don't you fucking talk like that Paul! This guy is **not** to be taken lightly! I don't care that you humiliated him the last time, now is NOT the time to get complacent. You get complacent, and you give him the advantage. You listen to me, Boy. You train for this match just as hard, if not **harder** than you have trained for any match before it. After the humiliation you dealt that guy last time, you can bet that he's going to be training harder than he's _ever_ trained before."

Hanging my head a little, I reply, "Yes, sir. You're right. I'm gunna go get changed."

He nods back, "Damn right. Lets get this turned up to high gear. We have a match to prepare for."

Changing quickly into my gear I do my own wraps, testing the tension, and finding it just about perfect I grab my gloves and go back out to the ring. Sam is in the middle, and I decide that I need someone more Cullen's speed, which would be slower than Sam, but with more muscle.

Looking around, I see Quil Ateara, training with one of the other guys in the corner of the room. I don't know him that well, he's younger than me, and he's always hung with Jake Black, and Sam's half brother Embry. He was built a lot more like Cullen than Sam though, wider, more muscle mass, and definitely slower.

Dad sees me looking, and he nods, before calling out, "Ateara, come over here."

The guy turns, "Who, me?"

Dad raises an eyebrow at him, "You're Ateara, aren't ya?"

He nods, and comes over, "Yes, Sir."

Dad looks at me, and I nod. He turns back to Quil, "How'd you like to spar with The Champ?"

Quil looks stunned, "Me? With Dire? Are you sure?"

Dad nods, "You're built more like Cullen than any of the guys we usually use, if you give him a run, we may even put you on the payroll. You'll get 200 for today, guys on payroll get 350 a session, and a guaranteed 2 sessions a week."

Ateara gulps, "I'll do my best, Sir."

He climbs into the ring, and Dad helps me with my gloves, "Go get him, champ."

I get into the ring, and cross over to him, we bump fists, and move to our sides. Everyone in the rec center is watching, they always watch when someone new goes up against me.

Sam, and J go over to Quil's side, they always take the newbie's side. They pep talk him, while Dad whispers to me, "He's a big one, good pick. You think he's gunna give you a run?"

Smiling, I reply, "I hope so, be a shame to be that built and have nothing behind it."

One of the guys rings the bell, and I meet Quil in the center of the ring. He's guarding himself well, keeps his hands up, and his arms in. We circle for a minute, and I aim a jab at his head, just to see what he'll do.

He takes advantage of the opening, jerking his head out of the path of my fist, while simultaneously throwing a left to my side which connects with a sharp thud. Kid can hit, the dull throb seeps into my side. He throws a left and it's my turn to dodge. I circle to the side and bounce a right hook off his headgear leaving him momentarily dazed.

He shakes it off, and comes back, throwing an uppercut into my ribs, forcing me back and letting go a flurry of hits to my midsection. I can feel myself hit the ropes, bouncing against them, throwing my arms out, and grabbing Quil around the neck in a hold.

Damn, this kid is good. Catching my breath, I shove him back, and let go with a flurry of hits, getting in a good combo of my own. He breaks away, and we circle again, eyeing each other, as the bell rings.

Going back to my corner, Dad gives me some water which I swish around, and spit out into the bucket he holds. He looks at me, "Kids got more strength than Cullen, but just like him, he's slow. You gotta use your speed Pauly. That's what's going to win you the fight."

The bell rings again, and I go out to the middle of the ring. Quil has a determined look in his eye, and he comes at me immediately, I use my quickness and side step the blow, coming back with one of my own, connecting with his ribs.

Doing what my dad told me to do, I string together punches into combinations quick as I can, keeping Quil on the ropes. He dodges a straight shot to the head and hits me with a ferocious jab to the midsection, momentarily knocking the wind out of me.

Falling on my knees I wheeze, trying to catch my breath. I can hear Quil next to me, "Oh fuck! Shit, I'm sorry man! I didn't mean to…"

Dad cuts him off, "Don't fuckin apologize to him! You did what you were supposed to do! He wasn't guarding himself. Congrats Kid, you're on the payroll. Tomorrow, 5am be ready to run. Sammy over there will get all your information on paper, and you'll get a check the end of next week."

Finally managing to catch my breath, I pick myself up off the mat, and go over to Quil, "Dude. Good punch. Don't ever apologize for doing your job. If you don't land hits, I don't learn, and if I don't learn, I lose."

He nods, and heads off to hit the showers. Dad comes over to me, "He got you a good one. You got your breath back yet?"

Chuckling a little, I respond, "Yeah, I'm good. So when do you think we should schedule the fight for?"

Dad goes over to the desk in the corner, and checks the calendar, "How do you feel about August 25th? That gives you just about 4 weeks to get ready."

Shrugging, I reply, "Sounds good to me. You'll make the arrangements?"

He nods, "Yeah, of course. I'll get on the phone with them back at the house. You go get a shower, and I'll meet you back there."

I nod, and he gets his stuff together as I go back into the locker room. I grab my stuff and shower quickly, toweling off, and changing into a clean pair of shorts and a tee shirt before heading back out to my car.

Taking the drive home a bit more leisurely than I took the drive in. I'm looking forward to working with Quil, though I know that it'll be only a matter of time before the kid goes pro himself. He's built like Cullen, but he has more strength behind his hits, and with my dad helping him he'll build his endurance up and he'll be out their winning matches of his own soon enough.

Pulling into the drive, I walk into the house just in time to hear my dad yell, "What the fuck do you mean you want the fight in LA! This fight is for the **North Western** Heavyweight Championship, it should be fought for in the NORTH WEST, not Southern freaking California! This is ridiculous! You want it off our turf that's fine, move it to Oregon, or someplace in Northern California, hell, I would even accept Reno Nevada since that's more north than LA is!"

Going into the room, I respond, "Dad, don't worry about it. Make the fight."

He looks at me, "Son are you sure?"

I nod, "I'm positive. Make the fight."

Dad sighs, and talks into the phone, "Fine. Dire has spoken, he'll take the fight in LA. We expect 55% of the purse for our inconvenience."

They must have agreed because Dad grins, "Okay, call me back when you have the particulars worked out."

He hangs up the phone, and sets it down on the table, "This is a big one Pauly. Either way you look at it we're gunna make a lot of money off of this fight."

I grin at him, "Well that's good to know, but we're in this to win it Dad. I just got the belt, I'm not ready to give it up yet."

He grins back, "Me either, Son. Me either."

****2 and a half weeks later BPOV****

Things with Emmett have gone from bad to worse ever since I moved to LA. I'm starting to think he's on steroids or something, Em's always been big, but ever since the day after he lost the fight to Paul Dixon he has been packing on muscle like nothing I've ever seen before.

His attitude has been the same, any little thing can set him off, but I only really see him for about 3 hours a day so thankfully it isn't really affecting me. His parents had given us the guest house, and after a week of his mother and sister torturing me, I had finally put my foot down and asked them not to come see me.

So now I spend my days cleaning an already clean house, and wishing that I was home with my dad. The front door opens, and I sigh, Em's home. Going out into the main hallway, I paste a smile to my face, "Hey honey!"

He sneers at me, "You're putting on weight Bella. You need to start working out with my mom and Alice. Let them put you on their diet."

Looking down at my body, I don't see anything any different, but I don't want to argue with him, so I reply, "Okay. I'll give your mom a call tomorrow."

He glares at me, "No. We're going up to the main house for dinner tonight. Jasper and Rose, and Peter are joining us. Go get changed."

Keeping the smile carefully in place, I nod, and go into my room to change. I pull out one of the many Alice approved outfits that have replaced my regular wardrobe, and put on the skimpy skirt and tight top before pulling on the too high heels.

Going back out to the hallway, he looks me over, still he doesn't touch me, or come near me as he says, "You look fat, but the clothes are nice. Let's go."

****Paul POV****

The last 2 and a half weeks of training have flown by, but I learned day by day, and finally today I had whooped Quil's ass all over the ring. The fight is a week and a half away and I can't wait to see the look on Cullen's face after I beat him again.

I head up the path to Sam and Leah's place, and let myself in to find her with the man I know to be Bella Swan's dad, "Hey Lee. Evening Chief."

He smiles at me, "Evening Paul. Thanks for the talk, Leah hon. I'm looking forward to your parents anniversary party next week."

She smiles at him, "Sure thing Uncle Charlie. See you later."

He leaves, and I sit down at the table, "So, uh, what was that about?"

She raises an eyebrow at me, "Fishing for information?"

I shrug, and she continues, "He misses his daughter. She moved to LA. Just like you said she would. He says he's talked to her almost every day, and that she sounds more and more depressed each day. He gave me her number, and asked me to call her."

Trying to sound nonchalant, I ask, "Well? Are you going to?"

Leah shrugs, "No, I don't think so. She wouldn't want to hear from me, Paul. We've never been friends."

She slides the paper across to me, "I figure she'd rather hear from you."

Licking my lips, I ask, "Why?"

She sighs, "I don't know. Maybe I've been thinking about what you said. Maybe I've been talking to Sam about it too, and maybe I think that you're right. Maybe she is in danger, and maybe I think you're the one who can talk her into coming home."

Looking at Leah, I see that she has real emotion in her eyes, and I can't help but chuckle, "Her old man is right, isn't he? Deep down, the two of you really do like each other don't you?"

She shrugs, "Maybe. Just. Please call her. And don't tell her where you got her number."

I nod, "Your secret is safe with me. I'll tell her I asked Jake for it."

She nods, "good plan. Thank you."

Nodding, I reply, "No problem. Is Sam around?"

She shakes her head, "Nope, he's on a job up in Forks."

Standing up, I say, "Aight, you want me to stick around til he gets back?"

She shakes her head, "Nah, I'm alright. Go home, use that number okay?"

I nod, "I will."

Leah gives me a hug, and I head out the door, the piece of paper with Bella Swan's number gripped in my hand.

****Time skip the next morning still PPOV****

I send a text out to my guys, '_I'm taking a personal morning. I'll meet you guys at the beach at 9 if you want to do sprints with me.'_

Taking the piece of paper with Bella's number off my nightstand, I stare at it intently for a few minutes. It's a Forks number still, so lets say she moved to LA a week after she and I talked on the beach. She's been there for a maximum 3 weeks and hasn't changed her number yet.

You'd think that would be the first thing she'd have done. Though maybe she keeps it that way for her dad. Picking my cell up, I key in the number, and listen to it ring. She picks up on the 3rd ring, and her voice is groggy, "_Hello_?"

Shit, I'm a complete idiot, it's like barely 7 in the morning, but I figured this would be the safest time to call, "Hey, Bella. It's Paul."

She gasps, "_Paul? Paul Dixon?_"

I reply, "Yeah, look, I'm sorry to wake you. I just figured that this early in the morning, I'd be sure to catch you alone. I don't want to cause you any trouble."

She snorts derisively, "_I don't think you could cause me any more trouble than I've already got._"

I hear the sadness and bitterness in her voice, as she continues, "_Look, I don't know how you got my number. It's nice to hear from you, but I thought I made myself clear that day on the beach. I can't talk to you. If Emmett found out…_"

Cutting her off, I ask her sharply, "Is he hurting you?"

She laughs, "_I guess it depends on how you define hurt. He's not abusing me, I promise you. He hasn't even touched me once since I've been here._"

I hear the double meaning, and I respond to it, "Really? Not once? Look, I won't call you again, you have my number now. If you need to reach me, you call. I want to get this off my chest though. Cullen is a fucking moron. You've been there how long?"

She answers, "_Just about 3 and a half weeks._"

I snort, "And he hasn't touched you once?"

She freezes, and stutters into the phone, "_I, I have to go Daddy. Esme, and Alice just walked in._"

I tilt my head in confusion, assuming Esme and Alice are part of Cullen's family, I listen to her continue, "_I'll call you soon. Love you too Dad._"

She hangs up, and I stare at my phone for a minute. Well. That was productive. Laying back on my bed, I stare up at the ceiling. So things with her and Cullen are definitely not all rainbows and butterflies. Seems to me they're pretty bad actually. Shitty that she's so stubborn that no matter what she'll try to stick it out. I guess I can only hope he screws up huge.

Now though, I need to concentrate on training.


	7. Ch 07: Dixon Vs Cullen: The Rematch

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and may contain Graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.**

**A/N: this chapter and the next are going to be kind of Bella POV heavy.**

****August 24th, the night before the rematch PPOV****

Another press conference, this time with a televised weigh in. I sit between my dad and Sam, and wait for Cullen and his camp to arrive. The reporters are outside, they won't be allowed in until both fighters are seated.

The last week and a half had crawled, despite filling my days with as much training as I possibly could, I hadn't been able to stop waiting for a call that never came. I had thought about calling her, but figured maybe the two who cut our first call short had said something to Cullen. She had stuttered, they could have guessed she wasn't really talking to her dad, and she had asked me specifically not to call again, so I had heeded her wishes.

The door opens, and my breath catches in my throat. Bella is with them this time, and she looks terrible. She's lost about 20 pounds that she couldn't afford to lose in the first place, and her skimpy clothes cling to her now bony frame. Her hair is done up nicely, but it's limp and lackluster from the poor nutrition.

Breaking my concentration, Dad whispers, "Holy shit…"

Sam breathes out, "I'll second that…"

Tearing my eyes away from Bella, I feel them bug out as they take in Cullen. He's fucking humongous! If they hadn't already done the blood tests I'd be up and accusing him of using PED's, but they have done the tests, and I know they all came back clean. Plus, I don't think even Cullen's rich daddy could get him around a sanctioned blood test.

He wasn't the only one who was bigger but his difference was a lot larger than mine, I had put on maybe 7 to 10 pounds of muscle. Cullen had put on 20 easily, probably more.

The doors open again and the press file in and take their seats. Dan Haden is once again our moderator, and he calls us up to the scales that they have set up facing each other.

Feeling dazed I get up, and walk over to the scales, we're both in just our ring trunks, and we step onto the scales at the same time. Our dads do the honors of adjusting the weights, just as I figured, I've put on about 6 lbs of muscle, weighing in at 291.

Cullen's dad fiddles with the weights, and I can tell it's at about 296, he's put on 26 pounds of muscle in the barely two months since the last fight… he's lucky he hasn't had a fucking heart attack, what is his father thinking?

We step down off the scales and make our way back to our seats. Cullen moves stiffly, slowly. Even at only 5 lbs less I maintain my speed and agility, that's what sprints do for me. My dad and his well rounded training plan.

The rest of the conference passes in a blur, even the media seems shell shocked by the gain on Cullen's side. Bella catches my eye, and I turn away, this is not the time to be caught staring at each other, even if I am only thinking about how worn down and terrible she looks. If it makes the papers or the television she'll be in big trouble.

Finally the reporters leave, Cullen and his camp get up and head out the door. Bella goes last, and I catch up to her by the door, "Bella."

She turns, fear in her eyes, as she whispers, "Not now! I'll call you."

I cut her off, "That's what you said the last time we talked. You didn't. Christ Bella, you look like shit. I'm telling you, walk out of here, get your stuff together, and get on a plane back to Washington. Go home to your dad."

Tears in her eyes, she turns, and hurries out the door before Cullen can realize she's not with them. Sam comes up and puts a hand on my shoulder, "Beat his ass tomorrow night Paul."

I nod in reply, "I'll do my best."

****Much later that same day still PPOV****

My phone rings as I lay in the hotel room, looking over I see it's Bella, and I answer, "Hello?"

Her voice sounds shaky, as she replies, "_Hey. I'm sorry to call so late. I know you probably want to get a good nights sleep before tomorrow."_

I reply, "It's fine, the fights not until like 11:30 at night anyway. Are you okay?"

She chuckles darkly, "_I think I am. You're the one who thinks I look like shit._"

I shrug, knowing she can't see it as I reply, "I call it like I see it."

She sighs, "_I know, I've been trying to lose weight but it's just not working. I know I'm overweight._"

Blinking in confusion, I ask, "Are you joking? Bella you're skin and bones. I don't think you have anything left to lose. You look like shit because you're like 4 lbs from looking like a walking skeleton. Who's the idiot that's been telling you that you're fat? The last fight you looked gorgeous, now you look like a good strong wind would knock you on your ass. You were perfect before."

She replies, "_Look, this isn't why I called. Paul you need to call the fight off. Please._"

Confused, I reply, "I can't. It's too late to back out now. I'd get all sorts of fines. Why do you want me to call it off?"

She takes a choked breath, "_I'm afraid he's going to hurt you. Badly. I know you hurt him the last time. I know that you did what you had to, to win the fight, but Em isn't in his right mind. I think his dad has been giving him something._"

I interject, "Bella we did blood tests, they came back clean. I appreciate your concern, but I'm not afraid of him. I've been training almost my whole life for this. I'm in the best shape of my life. That, plus the fact that I can still wipe my ass, and Cullen looks like he needs someone to do that for him makes me think that I'm going to be okay."

That draws a giggle from her, and she chastises, "_Paul!_"

Her laughter turns into a gasp of horror as I hear a woman's voice in the background, "_Well, well, well. What do we have here? Paul? After all Em, and the Cullen's have done for you! You have the nerve to cheat on him with the enemy?_"

Bella sounds horrified, "_I didn't cheat on anyone! Paul is a friend of mine from back home. You can't tell Emmett, Rose. You can't!_"

Speaking loudly, I tell her, "Bella, tell me where you are, and I'll come pick you up!"

She speaks into the phone, "_No! I'm fine. Really._"

She continues talking, but now she's more talking to whoever Rose is, "_Emmett has been training for weeks. Rose knows how important this fight is to him. She knows how miserable he'll make the family if he loses because he's distracted about petty relationship drama. She doesn't want Edward to be unhappy. She'll keep her mouth shut at least until after the fight if she knows what's good for all of us._"

I hear the other woman sigh, "_You're right. Don't think that I won't remember this though. I guess Esme was wrong. You have been paying attention to the things she says._"

Bella sighs, "_She's gone. I have to go. I told Em I was going for a swim. You should get your rest. For what it's worth Paul, good luck tomorrow. I'm sorry to say that I hope you lose, but I just don't know what he'll do if he loses again. The first loss. It changed him. It changed my whole life."_

Running my hands through my hair, I reply with a worried edge in my voice, "Bella, please. I'm begging you. Please, go to the airport, and go home to your dad. He misses you, and he's worried about you. I saw him at Leah's, I promised her I wouldn't tell you, but she's the one who gave me your number. Your dad gave it to her. Please Bell. Go home."

She sighs, "_I wish I could. It's too late though. I took his ring. I made a commitment._"

Cutting her off, I snap, "So the fuck what? People break engagements every day Bella! He isn't healthy for you! Maybe at one point he was good for you, but he's not anymore. Give him his ring back, and go home to your dad!"

She cuts me off, her voice raising, "_For what reason Paul? Seriously? I've lost a little weight, so what? I live in LA, everyone here is skinny. Em isn't easy to live with these days, but that's YOUR fault! Before your first fight with him he was the best guy I'd ever known! Hell even after the fight he seemed okay. It wasn't until the next day that he did a complete personality 180. If he beats you tomorrow night he'll be fine. Hell even if he loses he'll probably be okay. He hasn't hurt me in any way. I don't have a reason to leave him! I'm not going to be like my mother! Look, I have to go. Good luck tomorrow. You'll need it._"

She hangs up, leaving me to stare at the phone. Christ. Whatever though, I've done my part. I tried my best. Now it's on her.

****The Next Night. 10 Minutes Until Fight Time.****

Dad wraps my hands, and helps me with my gloves. As soon as he's done he moves away and lets me get up. Pacing back and forth, I throw punches, warming up my muscles, preparing for what's to come.

The knock on the door tells us it's time for us to walk down. Dad, Sam, Uncle Josh, and I walk out, I concentrate on the music, traditional music of my people. I let it flow through me, knowing that my people are at home supporting me. As we step onto the ramp the music changes, and the rock beat runs through me, pumping me up.

We make our way to the ring, and getting in I hold the belt up over my head to cheers from the crowd, before handing it over to the ref. Meeting my dad in the corner, he slips the mouth guard in as he says, "Alright Pauly, you know what you have to do to win this fight. Keep moving, I don't want to see you standing still for a second. You give this behemoth an opening and we're gunna be pickin you up off the floor. Keep it moving, use your speed, use your agility."

Nodding I hit my fists together, and Sam pats me on the shoulders, "Let's get this done Paul."

I nod, and the bell rings.

****Bella POV****

Sitting next to Rose on the couch in the skybox, I watch as Paul and Emmett meet in the center of the ring. She leans in, appearing friendly to anyone watching, but her voice is a hiss, as she asks, "So who are you rooting for, Bella?"

I sneer at her, "I'm rooting for my future husband of course."

I can't help but think though, that I hope that Paul beats him. I know it'll make life unbearable for me, at least for a little while, but I have to at least admit to myself that I don't think Em deserves to win with the way he's been acting since the last fight.

Rose sits back as Edward sits down on her other side. He wraps an arm around her, and I can't help but notice that she looks a little disgusted by him. I guess there's trouble in their paradise too. The thought makes me smile a little.

Turning my attention back to the fight, I see Paul moving swiftly landing punch after punch. Unfortunately they don't seem to be having any effect on Em. He's not moving much, and he seems to be just letting Paul hit him, but he doesn't seem to be feeling the blows.

Paul continues to bob and weave and throw punch after punch, and Em continues to absorb them.

Finally the bell rings, and they go back to their corners. Emmett practically looks bored as Carlisle squirts some water in his mouth, Peter isn't even bothering with instructions. Across the ring, Paul is still looking fresh as his dad talks to him. The commentators on the tv had given the round to Paul easily since he had thrown and landed the most punches.

The bell rings signaling the start of round 2, and the guys meet in the middle of the ring. Again Emmett pretty much just stands there as Paul lands punch after punch, he's moving a lot, and Em just turns to meet him. He's guarding his face, but leaving his body open.

Paul throws a left, followed by a right, and all of a sudden Emmett takes the opening, and punches him in the side. Paul stumbles but keeps upright, and moves to the side, continuing to punch.

Esme yells, "You see that! He rocked him!"

Biting the inside of my lip to keep from crying out I watch as Em lands another hit to the body. Paul stumbles again, but still he manages to keep upright, and after another few hits on his part, the bell rings.

In the corner Paul's team ices the areas where he's been hit, numbing the pain out. His Dad is close into his face, telling him to move, move, keep moving. In Em's corner they give him some water, and Peter tells him to just keep doing what he's doing.

I know that the quickest way to wear an opponent down in a match is to go for the body. You punish the body, and the body will fall, but it's not working on Emmett. For some reason he seems to be barely feeling the punches.

The bell rings and the third round starts, Paul moves swiftly into the middle of the ring and he circles Emmett, quickly landing as many punches as he can, and trying to stay out of Em's range.

He moves in, lands 2 quick punches, and moves out quickly avoiding the blow that Em aims at his midsection. Emmett watches him, moving stiffly, trying to keep his eyes on him. Paul moves in and lands 3 more hits. This time though, Em is ready for him, and he lets loose a flurry of hits, landing at least 4 to Paul's midsection.

Paul falls, and the ref starts counting. At 5 Paul makes it to his feet and steps towards the ref meeting his hands. The ref deems him fit to continue and Emmett moves towards him, Paul sees him coming and moves swiftly away. He moves as fast as he's able but you can tell the barrage of hits that Em landed had hit their mark.

My hands are clasped together, I don't even know what outcome I'm praying for, I just want this to end. Closing my eyes, I breathe out a sigh of relief as the bell rings signaling the end of the round.

Getting up, I go over to the table and grab a couple of pieces of fruit. I know if I try to take something heavier that Esme will launch into a diatribe about weight. She had insisted I take diet pills which was how I had lost the weight I had lost in so little time.

I grab a bottle of water, and sit back down just as the bell rings for the fourth round.

Both Emmett and Paul are moving, circling each other, neither one getting close enough to land a hit. My heart races as I realize that Emmett is slowly moving to the corner, maneuvering Paul so that he's trapped there. Paul realizes it too late, he tries to move out but Emmett moves in for the kill, he hits him hard in the side, Paul doubles over, and Em hits him in the head, he falls backwards into the turnbuckle.

Emmett throws hit after hit, and I don't even know if Paul is moving of his own accord or if it's just the impact of Em's fists hitting him that have him seemingly bouncing back and forth. Em hits him in the face, and I can't help the little shriek that escapes me.

Christ. He's going to kill him. Finally the ref manages to separate Emmett from Paul's body, which promptly falls to the matt. The referee counts and finally the fight is over.

I manage to stand up and cheer along with the rest. I have to maintain appearances right now. I can't afford anyone having any suspicions that I'm not happy about Em's win.

Making our way down to the ring, venue security gets us right to the apron quickly, and before I know it, Em has grabbed me round the waist, and is spinning me around.

He kisses me, I feel wrong, but I kiss him back. Hoping that maybe he'll start getting back to normal now. He pulls back, whispering in my ear, "I love you Bella. I'm so sorry about what an ass I've been since the last fight."

****Sam POV****

Paul falls to the mat, and I wince. It's over, I know it is. 4th round knock out. God. This isn't happening. I see Bella, and Cullen's family being brought to the ring. He grabs her and spins her around. She tries to look happy, it sort of works.

He kisses her and whispers in her ear. My dad and Paul's dad are in the ring now, the ring doctor is there too. I hear the ring doctor, "He has a level two concussion. He needs to be admitted to the hospital for observation for 24 hours."

They call for a stretcher, and I see the stricken look on Bella's face as they load Paul onto it. Following it out of the venue, Mr. D gets in the back of the ambulance with Paul, and Dad and I get in our rental car and follow the ambulance out of the lot.

It takes about 15 minutes to get to the hospital. The doctors are already waiting. They take him in, and put him in a bed. They ask him questions, he can only answer the most basic one of what his name is.

We wait, and they get him admitted. They move him upstairs. One of the guys from the venue comes in with his bag, and I take it from him, "Thank you."

He nods, "No problem, I hope he's okay."

I nod, "You and me both."

The guy leaves, and I hear a chirp from the bag. Opening it, I find Paul's phone, there's a message on it. From Bella, '_If anyone gets this message please let me know if Paul is alright. I am so sorry that he was hurt! Thank you.'_

I'm sure Paul will get back to her when he's more cognizant. I resist the urge to send Bella back a message telling her to get bent. As far as I'm concerned, this is her fault, she distracted him, and now he's in the hospital.


	8. Ch 08: The Road Back Home

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and may contain Graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.**

**A/N: This chapter contains a scene of domestic violence. Domestic violence is a serious situation, it is not meant to be taken lightly, and it is not meant to be romantic in ANY way.**

****Bella POV after the fight****

Emmett goes to his locker room to get changed and have a quick look over done by the ring doctor. His family has gone back to the house already. Standing outside the door I send a text to Paul's phone and quickly delete it from my sent messages.

My dad calls, and I reluctantly pick up, "Hey Dad_._"

He sounds worried, "_Hey Bells. Uh, I saw the fight. Watched it over at Billy's._"

I ask, "Yeah? So you know we won then."

He takes a deep breath, "_Yeah. Look, Honey, I'm worried about you. What's been going on down there? Bells, truth be told you look like shit. I want you to come home._"

Sighing, I reply, "I lost a little weight Dad. That's all. I'm not going to leave my fiancé, the man I've been with for almost 6 years, for no damn reason. I'm not Mom."

I can almost see him shaking his head, as he replies, "_Bella, leaving a relationship that very obviously does not make you happy anymore doesn't make you like your mom. I understand that you feel like you've made a commitment and you want to honor it, but you're not married yet. Walk away while you still can. Please Baby Girl. Come home._"

I'm about to reply when the door opens and Em comes out, he's grinning from ear to ear, and holding the belt that still has the placard with Paul Dixon's name on it. I smile at him, and say to my dad, "I know Dad, thanks so much for calling to congratulate him. He just came out of the locker room, I'll pass it along. Love you Daddy."

I hang up the phone, and Em wraps an arm lightly around my waist, and we head out to the lot. The Cullen's had of course sent a limo, and we get in the back of it. There's a full bar, and Em pours both of us a drink as the car gets moving.

He hands me a tumbler full of straight scotch, and I ask, "Why Mr. Cullen, are you trying to get me drunk?"

He laughs, and it's so good to hear him laugh again, I feel almost normal as he says, "Well I thought that's why I put the ring on your finger? So I wouldn't have to get you drunk."

He pulls me over to sit on his lap, his mouth running along my neck, his hands running over my sides. He whispers in my ear, "You've lost a lot of weight, honey."

I nod, "Your mom and sister put me on their diet. That's what you wanted, wasn't it?"

I can feel him shrug behind me, "I thought it was. Now I'm afraid I'll break you in half though."

Oh God… he wants to have sex with me. I feel more than a little horrified at the thought. I can tell him I'm on the rag… Usually that's enough to ward him off, it's worth a try at least.

Taking a gulp of my drink I hiss a little as it burns it's way down to my stomach. Turning slightly, I plant an innocent kiss on his cheek, "Sorry baby, it's that time."

He shrugs, "I think I can deal with it this time. It's been too long."

"Well who's decision was that?", the words escape before I even think about them.

His hands tighten on my hips, "It was mine, does that show you a pattern? I'm the man in this relationship, Bella. I make the choices."

The partition in the limo is up, there's two ways I can play this. I can refuse, and deal with a pissed off Emmett for the rest of the night, and God knows how long after, or I can go along, and hope that it's a new start for us.

****The next morning still BPOV****

I wake up with Em's arms around me for the first time in a long time. It doesn't feel the same. Just like sex with him hadn't felt the same. Maybe my dad and Paul are right. Maybe I should just accept that I'm not happy anymore. Maybe I should go home.

Em's arms tighten, and I slip out from under them making my way to the bathroom. Getting dressed quickly, I grab my phone, and slip out of the house. It's early, barely 6:45, and I head for the pool.

Sitting down beside it I let my feet drop into the water, turning my phone on I see that there's a message on it from Paul's phone, '_Hey Bella, I saw your message on my phone, just wanted you to know that I'm alright. I was out of it for the first 6 hours or so but I'm okay now. Well, except for the fact that the damn nurses wouldn't let me sleep._'

I text him back, '_I'm glad you're okay. Sorry you can't sleep, but that's protocol with a concussion, isn't it?_'

A few seconds later my phone lights up, '_Yeah, I guess it is._'

I kick my feet back and forth through the water, as I reply, '_I've been thinking a lot about what you've been saying. I think, maybe you're right. Maybe I should go home._'

A couple of seconds later he texts back, '_Well thank God. She sees sense. Let me know if you need any help._'

I start to reply, when Em steps out of the shadows, "Bella? Who are you texting with?"

Shrugging, I answer, "I'm not texting with anyone. I just figured I'd come down here with my phone, and sit by the pool."

His brow furrows, as he replies angrily, "Bullshit. Give me your phone."

Having had just about enough of his split personality, and maybe hoping that if he sees how upset I really am by everything that he'll come back to himself, the sane rational part of my mind that's been keeping my mouth in check since the day after the first fight flees. All of a sudden I'm narrowing my eyes at him, and I snap at him, "No. Look, I've been taking a lot of crap with a smile since your first fight with Paul Dixon, and I'm sorry Emmett, but I'm done with it! I'm done with your mother and your sister shoving diet pills down my throat, I'm done with letting your parents tell me how to live my life, I'm done with your mood swings, and I'm done being told what to do. You're my fiancé, you're not my father."

He comes up to me, and grabs the phone out of my hands, he scrolls through the messages, his face contorting in fury as he snaps, "You've been talking to HIM?"

He reads more, and throws my phone down on the ground as hard as he can, and pulls me to my feet, yelling in my face, "Answer me Bella!"

He has a tight grip on my arm, and I try to pull away, "You're hurting me!"

He squeezes tighter, and snarls in my face, "You have the fucking nerve to cheat on me? You have no idea what hurt is! Now answer me, how long have you been fucking him?"

Trying to stay still, I choke out, "I haven't fucked him! I've been here! Practically under surveillance 24 hours a day! We're just friends."

Emmett snorts in disgust, "Yeah right. Dixon doesn't have female friends. Tell me the truth Bella!"

He grabs my hips painfully tight, as I futilely try to push him away from me. I cry out, "I am telling the truth! I haven't ever been alone with him! How could I have had sex with him when I've been here? Emmett please!"

He looks into my eyes, and starts rambling, "Maybe you're telling the truth, but I bet you wanted to. Didn't you?"

Confused now, I ask, "Wanted to what? Fuck him? Em you're out of your mind! Baby I"

Blinding pain crashes over me, as his fist connects with the side of my face, quick jabs that I can't count, I don't know how many times he hits me, I hear screaming, barely conscious of the fact that it's my mouth the noise is coming out of, and my legs give out. One minute I see Em standing over me, and the next someone is hitting him, pushing him back and away, and yelling words I can't hear.

My left eye is closed, nearly swollen shut, and I hear an angry male voice telling him that if he doesn't back off that he's going to call the police, and then the news. Sick shame rolls through my stomach at the thought. I choke out, "No! Please!"

The next thing I know someone is lifting me in their arms, the arms are wiry, muscular but not overly so, and I see a flash of blonde hair. Relaxing I know that it's Jasper. He yells at Emmett, "Stay the fuck away from her! I swear to God Emmett, I'll go to the police, right after I kick your sorry woman beating ass, and then I'll go to the association!"

Emmett backs off, and I hear him say, "You guys have 30 minutes to get your shit and get out. You're not welcome here anymore."

He storms off towards the main house, and Jasper carries me back to the guest house. He sets me down on the couch, "How much stuff do you have here?"

Stiffly I answer, "Nothing really, a hoody, the tee shirt and pants I'm wearing, and a pair of sneakers. Em told me not to bring anything. They replaced all my stuff."

He goes into the bedroom and comes out a few minutes later with my own hooded sweatshirt, a pair of socks, and my shoes. Jasper puts them on me, as I lay on the couch, feeling like an invalid. Looking down at him, I ask, "Why are you doing this? You're going to lose your job. What about Alice?"

He shrugs, "Fuck them. They've done nothing but hold me back for years now. Alice treats me like a fucking pet. The same way Cullen treats you. Now, can you walk?"

I stand up, and a wave of nausea crashes over me. I stumble, and he sweeps me up, "I guess not. You probably have a level 1 concussion, and your face is going to look like hell. I have a car here. Where can I take you?"

Blurting out the only word I can think of, I answer, "Home."

He nods, "Forks. Sounds like a plan. It'll take at least a day and a half to get there. It's like 20 hours by car with no stops. I'm going to put you in the car and go get my stuff. I'll give you my phone. If anyone comes to the car who isn't me I want you to call 911."

I nod and he carries me out of the guest house, through the grounds to the long driveway. He puts me in the car and hands me his phone, "Don't talk to them. Just call 911 if they come near you."

I nod, and he disappears into the night. How had this happened? How had my life turned into a lifetime movie of the week? Really it's my own fault. I had ignored the signs for weeks, and then expected that things would just be okay.

Jasper gets back to the car quickly, throwing a duffle bag in the back seat and climbing into the driver's seat. He looks over at me, "You ready to go?"

I nod lightly, and he starts the car. Pulling out of the drive the gate closes behind us, and even though I'm in a lot of pain, I can't help but smile. I haven't felt this free since before the first fight that Emmett had with Paul.

Thinking his name hurts, and I let the tears roll down my face. Jasper sees, and he tries to help, "Don't cry, darlin, I know it hurts, but give it a few weeks and you'll be good as new. You'll be happy to see your daddy won't you?"

Oh God, I hadn't even thought about Charlie! Shaking my head frantically until it feels like it's going to fall off, I say, "No! Shit!"

I moan in pain, and Jasper hands me a couple of pills, "I grabbed these from Carlisle's stash. It's nothing major, just Tylenol with Codeine in it. It'll help your pain."

I take the pills and the bottle of water from the cup holder and swallow them down, before saying, "We can't go to Forks, Jasper. My dad can't see me like this!"

He nods, "Okay. I can understand that. How bout this, we'll just drive like we're going to Forks. We'll figure out something else later on."

Looking out the window at the sun, I answer, "I guess that sounds good."

****3 Hours Later****

We've driven in silence for the last 3 hours, finally Jasper breaks the silence, "What happened, Bella?"

I shrug, wincing in pain as my bony shoulder lightly touches my swollen face, "I wish I knew. Em's been borderline crazy since the first fight. I thought that winning would fix it, but obviously it didn't."

It hurts to talk, but I keep going, "He pretty much demanded that I move down here, and then he demanded that I have Alice and Esme put me on their diet because I was getting fat."

Jasper cuts me off, "That's the roids, Bella. You were never fat."

Shock overcomes me, and I blurt out, "Paul said the tests all came back negative!"

Jasper shrugs, "Yes, well when you have the kind of money that the Cullen's have you can pay for those tests to come back negative. In my bag I have evidence that Emmett is, and has been, roiding since the day after the last fight. They have no idea what I can do to them."

Sitting back in my seat I ask him, "What about Rose, Jasper? Is she still with them?"

He sighs, "She is. I told her what happened, and she claimed you deserved it because you've been fucking around."

He licks his lips uncomfortably, "Not that you'd deserve any of what you've been though if you were, but were you fuckin around Bella?"

I shake my head, again wincing at the pain, though thankful that when not moving it's decreased to a dull ache thanks to the medicine Jasper gave me. I answer him, "No. I have been talking to Paul Dixon, but not romantically. Just as friends. I've only ever had a private conversation with him in person once, and it was on the beach at La Push. We only talked."

Jasper nods, "I didn't think it sounded like you. To be honest it sounded more like Rose. Just so you know, she's been bangin Emmett some of the time he's claimed to be trainin."

Even though I'm happy to be away from Emmett, knowing that he cheated on me with his brother's girlfriend pisses me off, and upsets me, but I answer, "I can't even say I'm surprised. I don't think I'd even be surprised if you told me he killed a puppy at this point."

Jasper chuckles darkly, and pulls off into a rest area. He goes in the back, and pulls out a camera, "come into the bathroom with me. We need to take some pictures of your bruises. Knowin Cullen, he's goin to change his mind about lettin you go. When he does you'll need the pictures to file for any sort of protection order."

I nod meekly, "Okay."

Following him into the men's room, he checks the stalls and locks the door behind us. I close my eyes and he takes a few pictures of my face. Taking off my hoody I let him take pictures of my arms. He gestures to my hips, I guess noting how stiffly I had been walking.

Sighing, I avoid all eye contact, and roll down my sweat pants. He makes comforting noises as he takes the pictures. Finally he says, "Alright Bella, we're all set. I just, I can't believe how much he's changed."

I nod, and make my way stiffly back out to the car. Something chirps, and he reaches into his bag, and hands me my phone, "That must be a pretty strong case. Cullen threw it pretty hard and it barely cracked the screen."

Looking down I see the hairline crack, it'll probably spider-web at some point but for now I'm happy to see that I can still text and stuff. Seeing I have a text message from Paul I open it, '_Hey, just checking in to see how it's going. Have you told him yet?_'

I text him back, 'I'm actually on my way back to Forks with a friend. It's a long story. Did they let you out of the hospital yet?'

It takes a few minutes, but he replies, '_Yeah, I'm on a plane up to SeaTac now. I have a headache, but other than that I'm fine. Me and Dad are gunna spend the night in Seattle, and 2mrw. we'll take a flight back up to PA._'

I reply back, 'That's great. Jas and I are planning to stop tonight 2. Is it okay if I call you?'

He replies back, '_sure thing. Ttyl.'_

I send him back a quick goodbye, and Jasper speaks, "You like him, don't you?"

Shrugging, I wince from the movement, and he hands me another couple of pills, "Take these, it's just about time for another dose."

Taking the pills from him with shaking hands, I pop them in my mouth, and wash them down with the water. He looks at me out of the corner of his eye, "I'm not going to hurt you Bella. I was only askin if you liked him because you got a little smile on your face while you were texting, and I noticed who the text was from when I picked your phone up."

Relaxing a little, I reply, "I don't know how I feel about him. He's been really nice to me, but I don't really know him. And honestly Jasper, no offense, but how stupid would I have to be to get involved with another boxer."

He smiles ruefully, "We're not all like Emmett. Not all of us would resort to cheating after a loss, and I like to think the majority of us would never hit a woman. Dixon seems to be a man with a lot of honor and pride, he also seems to have one hell of a support system. He wouldn't be the type to stoop to cheating."

Confused, I ask, "What do you mean about the support system?"

He concentrates on the road as he talks, saving me from uncomfortable eye contact, "Well, Dixon has his dad, his friends, and essentially the whole town of La Push in his corner. So when he loses he has a lot of people telling him that he'll get him next time, and making him feel good about himself when he's feeling down. Emmett doesn't have that. The only person who was honestly in his corner Bella, was you. His parents equate losing with sin, and that's pretty much the only thing they consider a sin so you can probably understand that they're not the most sympathetic or supportive people in the world."

Chuckling darkly, I reply, "Well, yeah. Carlisle and Esme always seemed about as supportive as a pair of cobras."

He nods, "Actually the cobras are probably more supportive."


	9. Ch 09: Halfway There

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and may contain graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.**

****Paul POV about 9:00pm****

We got to Seattle at about 11 o'clock in the morning, Dad paid for an early check in at the Best Western motel, and I spent the majority of the day catching up on my sleep. Dad still woke me up every hour or 2, but I was able to get a good 6 hours or so.

Around 7:30 we got a couple of pizzas delivered from Dominos, and had a quiet dinner before laying back down on our respective beds and watching some TV in uncomfortable silence. Sighing, I break the silence, "Are you disappointed in me, Dad?"

He looks over at me, "Don't be a fool, Son. I have never been disappointed in you. I just figured, maybe you wanted some space."

I shrug, "I appreciate that. Do you think he won it? Or did I lose it?"

Dad shrugs, "Honestly Pauly, I don't know. It was a weird one. I have **never** seen **anyone** take a punch from you the way he did. If I didn't know better I'd say he was on steroids, but we had the testing done, he was clean as a whistle. It doesn't make sense."

I sigh, "It doesn't make sense to me either. I trained, I trained **hard**, and he still beat me. He couldn't even make it _three rounds_ with me the last time, now all of a sudden _he's_ knocking **me** out?"

Dad sits up, cutting me off harshly, "Look, I don't know how it happened, but it did. So what do you want to do? You wanna give up? Or you wanna keep going? You gunna let a loss derail you? Or are you going to work harder to get him next time? Don't wallow in the loss, Son. Don't let it consume you."

Sighing, I know he's right, I don't want to end up a bitter, angry shell of myself treating my friends and family like shit. Finally looking up at him, I answer, "Thanks Dad. You're right, I can't let one loss derail me. I'm Paul 'Dire' Dixon, I'm not going to let it change me, I'm going right back to training once we get home."

He smiles at me, "Good to hear. Although I think under the circumstances training can wait a few weeks until you're back at 100 percent."

I'm about to answer when my phone rings. Looking over I see that it's Bella, and I grab it, and answer, "Hey, hold on a second."

I grab one of the key cards, and say to my dad, "I'll be back in a bit, I'm gunna go sit by the pool."

He nods, "Alright. I'm sure that's a pretty girl, and you don't want your old man listening in. I'm probably gunna hit the sack soon so just be quiet when you come back in."

I nod, heading out the door, "Give me a second to get where I'm going."

She replies, "_okay._"

The gate to the pool area has a key card entry and I let myself in. I know it's closed, and hopefully I don't get any shit for being out here. I close the gate behind me, and go over and settle into one of the lounge chairs, "Okay. I'm back. So what's up girl?"

Her voice is kind of strange, as she answers, "_Nothing much. I'm sitting in a motel room in Portland, Oregon. I've never been here before. It's actually really beautiful. Reminds me of home._"

I reply, "Well you'll be home by tomorrow night probably right?"

She answers, "_Should be. It took about 2 hours less to get here than it should have. I don't know where I'm going once I get there, but we'll figure it out._"

Confused now, I ask, "What's going on? Wouldn't you just go to your dads?"

Her voice gets clouded with tears, as she chokes out, "_I would, but I don't want him to see me right now._"

Worry in my voice now, I respond, "What do you mean you don't want him to see you? Did something happen to you, Bella? Did Cullen hurt you?"

I can hear her crying, soft little snuffles that have my heart twisted up. Then I hear a guy's voice, in the background, "_Shh, it's okay Bella. I know you're upset, but you should tell him the truth._"

Her crying ramps up, and the guy comes on the line, "_Sorry, she's upset_."

I cut him off, "Who the hell is this?"

He answers, "_My name's Jasper Hale. I __**used**__ to work for the Cullen's_."

Worried now, I ask, "Alright, I'm sure I'm not going to like the answer to this, but is she okay?"

He sighs, "_It's not my place to tell you. She's back. Here._"

Bella comes back on the line, "_Paul?_"

I reply, "I'm here, Girl. What's going on?"

She sighs, getting choked up again, but she keeps herself in control as she answers, "_He, he caught me by the pool. When I was texting with you this morning. He…He hit me._"

I can't help the "Oh God.", that slips out of my mouth.

Anger flows through me, along with sick shame, and an overwhelming sense of guilt, "Shit, Bella, I'm so sorry. I should have done what you asked and left you alone. This is all my fault. Did you go to the hospital…"

She cuts me off, "_It is __**not**__ your fault! You're not the one who punched me in the face, are you? You're not the one who bruised my arms and hips, are you? You're not the reason I lost twenty pounds in the span of a month, and I look like a hot mess. Don't you dare blame yourself for trying to be my friend. I didn't go to the hospital. Jasper's been giving me some pain killers he took from Carlisle, nothing crazy, just Tylenol 3. It's been helping with the pain. My face looks like hell though, that's why I can't go to my dad's. I don't want him to see me like this."_

I can't blame her for that one, her dad needs to know what happened, but he doesn't need to have her probably bruised and battered face etched into his memory for the rest of his life. Still I want to know that she IS going to tell him, "You know he needs to know, right?"

She sighs, "_Yes, I know. I'm not going to hide from him. I just. I don't want him to see it when it's at it's worst. Maybe a week, once the swelling goes down, they start to fade a little, and I can do what I can with makeup. It's been a long day. Hell, it's been a long couple of months. I still have the ring. I'll have to send it back certified mail_."

I cut her off, "Bella stop."

She stops, and I continue, "I want you to come to La Push. I can put you up until you can go home."

She sounds conflicted, "_I don't know Paul. I don't want to put you out, Jasper is with me as well. I had thought about going to a hotel, but I don't have any money on me, and I need to pay Jasper back for the expenses he's put out_."

The guy in the background cuts her off, "_No, Bella. You don't owe me anything._"

I cut in again, "Bella, put Jasper on the phone again."

He comes back on the line, "_Yeah?_"

Wanting a straight answer I say, "Do me a favor and move somewhere she can't hear you."

He tells her he'll be right back, and I hear the door open and close behind him, before he says, "_Alright._"

Getting serious, I demand, "Don't bullshit me, how badly is she hurt?"

He sighs, "_Her face looks like hell, she has bad bruises on her arms and hips, but she'll live with no permanent damage, and honestly she's lucky it isn't worse. As bad as it sounds, and I don't mean it the way it sounds, but he fuckin love tapped her, he didn't hit her full out. If he had hit her with all his strength…_"

He trails off, and I can't even help but shudder, my aching head and body are a testament to how hard Cullen can hit. He had bruised my ribs, cracked one of them, battered my face till it was black and blue, and put me in the hospital with a level 2 concussion, and I'm just about his same size and condition. Bella weighs all of probably 90 lbs tops with her weight loss, she's only 5'3, and she's been malnourished for the last month. He's lucky he didn't kill her.

The anger is back now, and I ask him accusatorily, "So why did you get involved? You probably had a good thing going with the Cullen's."

He snorts derisively, "_Yeah, I guess. If you think being used as a human punching bag, not even allowed to use your full skill set, and knowing that you're never going to be anything more than an overpaid sparring partner is having a good thing. I mean don't get me wrong, the money was great, but I'm a good fighter. I'm __**better**__ than Cullen in a __**fair**__ fight, and I __**want **__to be__** MORE**__. I want a shot at going pro_."

The way he says fair fight has me confused, "What do you mean in a fair fight?"

The scowl is clear in his voice, as he answers, "_You didn't really think he put 30 pounds of muscle on in less than 2 months on his own did you?_"

My head reels, I feel nauseous, but I manage to choke out, "But, we had blood tests done."

Jasper laughs, "_Yeah, I know. Look, I have proof that he was roiding. I'm guessing from what Bella was saying before she gave me the phone that you offered her a place to stay. If you don't mind putting me up as well I'll give you all the proof you'll need to have him stripped of the belt, and possibly banned from the sport._"

I answer, "I have enough room for both of you. That's not a problem. I'll text her my address, do you need directions?"

He replies, "_I have a GPS. I'm going to go back inside._"

I exclaim, "Wait. Just one more thing. You didn't really answer my question."

He sighs, "_I never really knew Bella that well. She was Em's girl, and he didn't like for her to talk to the guys he sparred with. I was with Alice, and she and Alice never got along, but I could tell from the few interactions that I had with her that she's a good person. So when I heard her screaming by the pool I ran out to see what was going on, I thought maybe someone had broken in. When I saw him standing over her body on the ground I thought the worst. I hit him with everything I had, pushing him back. I told him I was going to call the cops and the news. She talked then so I knew she was at least alive. I picked her up, it was like picking up a child. Emmett started to come towards me with her in my arms, I told him to stay the fuck away or I would go to the police and then the association. He told us we had 30 minutes to clear out of the property. The only things she had there of her own were the clothes on her back. I put her in my car and gave her my phone. I told her if any of them came near the car to call the cops. I got involved simply because I knew that that pretty little girl with the sweet smile would be dead if I didn't._"

My eyes closed in horror, my voice is small as I tell him, "Thank you. I've been trying to talk her into leaving him for weeks. She always told me that she didn't have a real reason to. That he hadn't technically done anything to hurt her, he was just having a bad time."

Jasper snorts, "_That was just the roids. Honestly, before the roids, Em was a good guy. I actually always kind of wished that my sister Rose had chosen him instead of his brother, Edward, but by the time we met them he was already practically engaged to Bella. So she got with Edward because she wanted the money and the cushy lifestyle. Too bad there's such a high price that comes with it._"

I hear him open the door, and before he hands me off to her, I ask, "Hey Jasper. Do me a favor?"

He asks, "_What's that?_"

I reply quickly, "Get her to eat, will you?"

He answers, "_Sure thing._"

Bella comes back on the line, "_Paul?_"

Trying to smile so that it comes through in my voice, I answer, "Hey Girl. Look, Jasper and I talked about it, and I want both of you to come stay with me until your face gets better. He told me he has proof that Cullen was using steroids. I need to see it for myself."

She sighs, "_Okay, I guess that would be the best idea._"

Nodding though I know she can't see me, I answer, "Yeah, it would be. I'm going to text you my address as soon as we get off of here. Give it to Jasper so he can put it in his GPS tomorrow."

She replies, "_Okay. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then._"

Smiling at the thought of seeing her, yet apprehensive too, I answer, "Yup. Go get some dinner honey. I'll see you tomorrow."

She says goodnight, and we hang up. Rubbing my hands gingerly over my bruised and swollen face, and into my hair, I let out a sigh. Damn, this is going to be a long strange week.

I'm not stupid, I had heard Sam cursing Bella under his breath as he came into my hospital room, that shit had to stop. She was not responsible for Cullen beating me, hell, she tried to warn me to call the fight off. He and I were gonna have to have a talk.

Shit, I have to call my grandma too… Sighing again, I can't help feeling a little trapped, I know that my grandmother, Kim, and even Leah are going to start playing yenta the minute they know that Bella is at my place. She doesn't need that now, hell, if I'm being honest I don't either. We both need time to heal, myself just physically, her both physically and mentally.


	10. Ch 10: Getting There

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and may contain graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.**

****Early the Next Morning 7am, Paul POV****

Dad checks us out of the motel while I wait in the rental car, a pair of oversized airport sunglasses on my face, hiding some of the bruises as much as protecting me from the glare of the sun overhead.

The door opens, and he slides into the drivers' seat and pulls back out onto the road to the airport. We ride in silence for a short time, I should probably tell him that I'm going to be having house guests for the next week or so.

Clearing my throat, I say, "So uh, you know that phone call I got last night?"

His eyes slide over to me, and then back to the road, "Yeah?"

Sitting up straighter and turning towards him in my seat, I reply, "Well… it was a girl. More specifically, it was… Cullen's… girl."

It's a good thing we're on an empty strip of highway with no one in front of, or behind, us as my dad's head snaps up his eyes wide as they fix on my face. He looks absolutely shocked, as he stares at me for a full minute before I snap at him, "Dad! Road!"

He looks forward again, and incredulously responds, "I'm sorry, I could have sworn that you just told me that the girl who called you last night was Emmett Cullen's fiancé. Please tell me that you're joking!"

Exasperated, I reply, "I did tell you that, and no, I'm not joking. Look, just listen. Bella and I have been talking off and on since shortly after the first fight. I was worried about her, afraid that Cullen was going to hurt her. And he did."

Now he looks concerned, "What happened?"

Clenching my hands together, I start talking, "I met her just after the press conference for the first fight. I was attracted to her, I won't deny it, but I did know better. I denied my attraction, even to myself, but I didn't like the way Cullen seemed to need to possess her. I took it as insecurity on his part and left it at that. She seemed happy when I saw her that day."

Dad nods, and I keep going, "After the fight, the next evening in fact, J, Sam, and I ran into her and Cullen at the club down in Port Ang."

He interrupts, "What? Cullen ain't 21, and that girl of his is even younger than him!"

I nod, "I know, but Cullen is loaded, he probably bought his way in. Anyways, when I saw her she looked spooked, bad. I arranged it so that I bumped into her on her way out of the restroom, we talked, she's quiet, and kind of shy. Cullen of course came over and made a scene, almost knocked her the fuck over because he's a careless douche and she was wearing some ridiculous shoes. The guys and I left soon after that, because we didn't want trouble or bad press. Sam gave her my card, told her if she needed anything to just call."

Dad looks surprised at that, I shrug, and continue, "Anyway, after I finally whooped Ateara's ass that first time I went over to Sam's place. He wasn't home, I found Leah talking with Bella's father. Her dad and Chief Swan have apparently been friends for a long time. The man looked worried, but he left shortly after I got there, so I didn't get a chance to ask him about his daughter."

My dad continues to drive as I dig a bottle of water out of my backpack and take a drink before continuing, "So Leah and I talk, I ask her about Bella, she tells me Chief Swan is really worried about her and how he wants Leah to call her and try to convince her to come home. Leah gave me her number. I called her, she told me not to call again, and then some of Cullen's family I guess walked in and she made it sound like she was talking to her dad and hung up on me."

He grunts in acknowledgement, as I take another gulp of water, screwing the cap back on as I go on with the story, "I didn't hear from her again, not until she called me the night before the rematch, pleading with me to call the fight off. I told her it was too late to back out, the fines I'd get, all that stuff. She said she thought he was on something. I told her that we had done blood tests, that there was no way. Someone walked in on her talking to me, threatened to tell Cullen she was cheating."

Dad raises an eyebrow, as he struggles not to ask, knowing what's on his mind though, I tell him, "They jumped to the conclusion, I've never been with Bella, hell the only time I've had a private conversation with her was on the beach at La Push, and we didn't do anything, only talked. We got off the phone quickly after that though."

Dad nods, and I continue, "So skip ahead: the fight is over, you know what happened, I texted her yesterday morning before I got out of the hospital, to let her know I was okay. She told me she was leaving him, going back to her dads. I told her to call me if she needed anything. I didn't hear back from her, and I just assumed that everything was fine."

Dad sighs, and says, "But it wasn't, was it?"

I shake my head, "No. It wasn't. She called me last night, practically in tears, after some initial problems, she finally told me what happened. He caught her texting me that morning, he beat her, Dad. One of his sparring partners who was dating his sister found him standing over her, he thought she was dead at first. He saved her life Dad. She's on her way back up north now. When I spoke to her last night they were in Portland Oregon. I invited her and Jasper, the guy who saved her, to stay with me for a week or so, just until the worst of her bruises fade, she doesn't want her dad to see her with them at their worst."

Dad nods, "Is that the **only** reason?"

I glance at him, "What do you mean?"

He shrugs lightly, "Pauly, I love you, you're my pride and joy, but I have **never** known you to be close to a female that you weren't trying to get with. So I'll ask you again, are you having her come to the house because you really truly want to do her a favor or because you want to get with her?"

Chuckling darkly, I reply, "Dad, did you _**see **_her at the weigh in? She looked like death warmed over **before** Cullen did a number on her face. Look I know I've never had a bunch of female friends, and I know that your assessment is pretty much dead on, but she's different. I truly **want** to help her, not just help myself to her, honestly at this point banging her is the last thing on my mind. Well, there is one more reason I invited them to stay."

Dad gives me a sideways glance, "Yeah? What's that?"

Scowling, I reply, "Jasper, the guy who saved Bella, he says he has proof that Cullen is, and has been, using PED's since after the first fight. Somehow, that son of a bitch got past a sanctioned fucking blood test, and I want to know how he did that!"

Dad's eyebrows are almost up by his hairline, as he shakes his head incredulously, "Yeah, I think I'd like to know that myself."

As I've talked we've made the trip back to SeaTac international airport, Dad pulls back into the car rental lot. I grab my backpack, and my water bottle, checking my pockets quickly to make sure I have my phone before we make our way to the airport.

We make our way to the counter, check our bags, and get our boarding passes, the attendant looks from the name on my boarding pass, to my face with shock, "Dude! You're Paul Dixon!"

I nod, grinning as best I can with my swollen face, "All my life, man."

He laughs, "Dude, that loss was rough! I saw your first fight with that Cullen guy, he had to be on something to come back with that much more muscle! You should appeal!"

I nod again, "I intend to, trust me. Give it a week or so and you'll see a lot coming out about him."

He looks awestruck, as I extend my hand, but he shakes it off quickly and grasps my hand, as I say "Thank you for the support."

The guy smiles, "You're welcome, have a safe trip home, Sir."

Dad and I nod, say thank you again, and make our way through security, I choose the lane for the full body scanner, and Dad looks at me funny. I shrug, as I put my backpack on the conveyer to go through the x-ray tunnel, "What? It's faster, and the lines are always way shorter. Go through the metal detector if you want but you know they pat you down there anyway. I would rather no one touched me."

Dad nods, "Good point."

I pass through the scanner, get the green light, and pick my backpack up off the counter. We make our way to our gate area and find a place to sit down. Dad asks, "So, have you heard from them?"

I shake my head, "No, not since last night."

Dad looks at me pointedly, "Call her."

Realizing he's staring at my hand, I look down and realize that I've been flipping my phone in my hand probably since before we even went through security. I look up, slightly embarrassed, and he laughs, "It's okay to have feelings Pauly. Do what you gotta do."

I sigh, replying, "I know it's okay to have feelings, Dad, it's just…"

He laughs, "It's just that you never have before, no girl's ever been special to you, and maybe this girl is, and maybe she isn't… You've said yourself that you don't really know her, you've talked to her a few times, you feel drawn to her. Maybe that's just your hero complex kicking in, we all know you like saving things Pauly, look at the tribe."

I nod, and he heads over to sit down about 30 feet away, close enough that we don't lose track of each other, but far enough away that I can talk to Bella without him hearing every single word.

Going into my contacts, I find her number, and press send, waiting while it rings once, twice, three times, and she picks up, sounding groggy and still very muffled from what I imagine is the swelling as she says, "_H, hello?_"

Smiling through the pain, I say, "Good mornin, gorgeous!"

She tries to chuckle, it sounds more like snuffling, but there's an edge to her voice as she mumbles out, "_Please, more like good morning train-wreck! Unless you were talking about you, in which case; Good morning to you too, Gorgeous!_"

She moans and my stomach drops as I ask, "are you okay? Do you have any of that Tylenol 3 left?"

There's a tiny little tremble in her voice that makes me want to rip Emmett Cullen into tiny eviscerated shreds, as she answers, "_Yeah, it's on my night stand, I'm so stupid, I shoulda grabbed it right after I picked up the phone, I'm sorry!_"

I make little tsk-ing noises at her, ignoring the pain in my swollen mouth, and going into my carry on and grabbing a bottle of aspirin, "Don't be silly Bell, stop hatin on my favorite girl. You're fine, grab your pill, I'm about to get some myself."

I pop the cap off the aspirin, and choke down 4 of them dry, as she makes an affirmative noise, before whispering, "_Okay, yeah. Jasper's startin to stir, let me go in the bathroom, I don't want to wake him before he's ready to get up_."

The casual acknowledgment of the fact that she's sharing a room with this man takes me aback for a second, and I feel a stab of jealousy. It's stupid, and I know it's stupid, they only had a limited amount of money, Bella didn't have a dime, Jasper probably only had what was in his own bank account and if he had been dating the Cullen daughter chances are he had been spending money on a Cullen level, and if that was the case, he probably didn't have much left in the bank. So it only stood to reason that since they were making the drive on such little notice that they were playing it super cheap.

Biting back the urge to ask if they had two beds in the room, I ask, "When do you think you'll get back on the road?"

I hear a door shut, and assume she has made her way to the bathroom, the slight echo of her voice confirming it, as she answers, "_Check out is at ten, it's about eight now? I guess we'll be on the road by like 9:30 at the latest. We did the research last night and from here to La Push is just over a 5 hour drive, providing we don't hit traffic or any other unforeseen problems, so we'll be there around 2:30, 3:00 in the afternoon, that's alright, right?_"

Nodding, even though I know she can't see me, I answer, "That should be fine, we should be back at the house by like 12:30 the absolute latest, if there's any sort of problem, I'll text you, and if there's any problem on your end you text me okay?"

She makes an agreeing noise, and I continue, "Look, Bell, feel free to say no, but I was wondering…Do you think you could send me a picture of your face? I just, I don't want to scare you when I see you, and I think if it's bad, and it's probably bad, I mean I know how my face looks, so I know how hard he can hit, I just, I think maybe it would be best if I saw it in a picture first."

She takes a deep breath, and her voice cracks a little, as she answers, "_Y, yeah, I can do that. I'm not even sure what it looks like today, I didn't turn the light on when I came in here. Hold on a second…_"

I tell her I will, and her side of the line goes quiet, the whir of the automatic fan that accompanies the lights in most cheap motel bathrooms the only sound I hear other than a faint gasp.

****Bella POV****

I flip the switch, the light blinds me for a second, the rushing sound of the fan filling my ears, my eyes adjust as I blink away the glare, and I look into the mirror letting out a gasp of shock and dismay.

The whole left side of my face is swollen, and ugly purple black in color, I feel the tears leaking out of my eyes, as I shut them against the ghastly sight. I hear Paul's voice coming faintly from my phone, "_Bella? Bella, are you okay?_"

I take a shuddering breath, trying to pull myself together so that I can talk to Paul without being a broken down mess, I take a few breaths and feel calm enough to pick the phone back up, "I'm okay, sorry. It's, it's really bad, I'm warning you."

His voice is gentle, and calm, as he says, "_It'll heal, Girl. It'll be okay. Send me the picture._"

I tell him to hold a second, and go into the camera feature, turning the flash off and taking a picture of my reflection in the mirror with the phone. I look at it with a grimace, but it came out clear and I insert it into a text, and hit send.

I get back on the line, "Paul? I sent it."

He replies, "_Okay, I'll see you later today. I'm gonna get up off here to look at it. Be safe Bell._"

I tell him I will, and we hang up, I take the bottle of Tylenol 3 and shake out two pills, downing it with some water from the sink before going back out into the room. Jasper winces when he sees me, "That looks painful, you took your medicine?"

I nod with a grimace, and he smiles at me kindly, "It'll heal. You'll heal. You'll be okay."

I nod again, "I know. Thank you. If it wasn't for you I don't even know what would have happened, he probably would have killed me before he came out of his roid rage."

He bows slightly with a smile, "Glad to help."

****Paul POV****

The message comes through and my breath catches in my throat, I should open it…remembering that I'm in the airport though, maybe it's better if I open it later, I don't want to flip out and end up getting tased by airport security and being carried out on the evening news. I click the button and ignore the message…I'll deal with it when I get back to my own house.

****Short Time Skip still Paul POV****

The flight into Port Ang had been a short one, we landed without a problem, and that's when I realized that about 100 people had come out to greet us, Sam and Leah are standing with J, Kim, and my Grandma right in front. Others are holding signs saying, 'You're still our hero, Dire!', 'You'll get him next time!' just generally positive things, it feels really good to know that my people still have faith in me.

Dad and I exit the plane going down the steps and I immediately go over and hug my Grandmother, "Thanks for coming Gramma."

She hugs me tightly, before pulling back, "Oh, Pauly! Your beautiful face!"

I shrug, "I'll still be good lookin when it heals up Gramma, you'll see."

She laughs, "I know it. You're the spitting image of your grandfather, and he always healed up nice after a bout."

Dad comes up behind me, squeezing my shoulder as he passes by to hug his mother, "How you doin, Ma?"

Grandma answers him, but I don't hear what she says as Leah comes over to hug me, "Your face man!"

I laugh a little, the aspirin I took earlier had started to wear off about half an hour ago, and the ache is starting to come on strong, so my grin turns into something of a grimace, as I answer, "I know, I know, I look like shit, the aspirin I took earlier is wearing off, sorry."

She digs in her purse and comes up with a bottle of extra strength Tylenol, she puts it in my hand, and says, "It's okay, no need to apologize. I'm just surprised is all I guess. I dunno, for some reason I thought you'd be healed by now."

I laugh, "What? What do you think I have supernatural healing or something?"

She laughs, "I dunno, I guess on some level you've always seemed like a superhero or something, I never thought anything could stop you!"

Letting out a disgruntled snort, I answer, "Yeah, well just wait and see what comes out over the next couple of weeks."

The airport people come out and start trying to get people to disperse, one of them has a megaphone, and I go up to him, "Hey, I know you're trying to get people to move along, can I use your megaphone? I promise I can get them moving."

The frantic looking security guard shoves it at me, "dude, if you can get them to move I'll give you my first born!"

Laughing in return, I say, "That's not necessary", before raising the megaphone to my lips, "Attention Quileute friends and family! First I just want to say thank you for coming out to greet me! It really means more to me than any of you could understand that I still have the support of my people! That being said, the airport personnel would greatly appreciate it if we would make our exit! I'll be at the Rec Center tomorrow around 10! I hope to see you guys there! Have a safe trip home!"

People applaud, and the crowd starts to disperse, the guy I took the speaker from comes up, "Dude, thank you so much! We've been trying to move people along since before the plane even landed!"

Handing him back his megaphone I smile, "No problem. Have a great day."

Going back over I find Sam and Leah along with J and Kim standing with my Dad and Grandma, "So who's ready to go home?"

They look at me with sympathy, and I shrug it off, "I'm fine, really, I just want to get home and get settled, I have house guests coming."

Leah asks, "Oh yeah? Who's coming to visit you?"

I know I look uncomfortable, as I say, "Look, don't make a big deal out of it, but Bella is coming to stay with me for a week or so, a lot of stuff has gone down, why don't we all head back home and we can talk about it at the house."

The women look shocked, Sam and J just shake their heads like they had guessed all along I would do something stupid, my grandmother has a gleam in her eye that I know means she's got a lot to say, and my dad just shrugs as he says, "You heard the man, lets get on the road."

****About 2 and a half hours later Still PPOV****

It took a while longer to get home then it usually did, traffic from all the people from the Res who had come out to greet me. Finally though we had made it home and for the last 20 minutes I had filled in my family and friends about what was going on.

To say they were pissed was an understatement. The women were livid about Cullen laying his hands on a woman that he was supposed to love and protect.. The men were just as livid about that fact, and even more so about the cheating. All in all I knew that it wouldn't be the environment that Bella needed to deal with upon arriving.

Waiting for everyone to quiet down for a minute, I raise my hand, "Look, none of this is anything we can change or do anything about at this moment in time. I have a traumatized woman coming here and I really think that the only people who should be here when she gets here is me, my dad, and my grandmother. I think for her to have to deal with everyone all at once is just going to make her more scared and uncomfortable."

Leah nods, "Paul is right. A crowd would just upset her…"

She turns to Sam, "C'mon, lets go."

As my friends head out I realize that it's just about 1:30 in the afternoon, they should be here in about an hour. Grandma comes and sits down with me, "Are you alright?"

I shrug, "I'm okay. She sent me a picture of her face, I have to look at it before she gets here, I'm gonna go out back and do it. I don't want to scare you if I freak out."

She nods, "Okay. I'll be here when you're ready."

Nodding back at her, I say, "Thanks Grandma. I love you."

Grandma smiles, "Love you too hon."

Getting up I go out the back door and sit down on the deck chair. Sighing, I take my phone out of my pocket, and go into my messages and find the text that Bella sent before.

Taking a deep breath, I open the file and the picture loads up making me gasp in shock. The entire left side of her face is swollen, and black/purple in color, the right side of her face is largely untouched except for a black eye, but the left side is bad, it's very bad. How it was all cosmetic, how by the grace of God her brain didn't get completely scrambled I have no idea.

Emotion overcomes me, and I'm stunned by the fact that looking at the ruin of Bella's beautiful face it's not anger that's consuming me, but sadness. He was supposed to love her, he was supposed to take care of her… How could he allow himself to get to a point where he could physically beat the shit out of her?

From the minute I started dating my father had drilled a few things in my mind, if you don't want a relationship, be up front and don't waste a girls time, and don't ever touch a woman to bring her pain. Always know your intent, and **always **be aware of your own strength. What the hell did this guys dad teach him? Cullen has a baby sister too, how would he feel if someone did what he did to Bella to her?

That fucking bastard! The mad is coming in now, all I see is red, I want to punch something, but the lingering effects of the concussion have me seeing double and all I can do is shut my eyes and try to calm down. I take deep breaths holding for a couple seconds and slowly exhaling as the blood in my head pounds through my temples.

My phone rings, and I see it's Bella. Taking one last deep breath, I push the mad and sad to the corners of my mind, and answer the phone with a smile on my face, "Hey Girl! You getting close?"

Her voice is slightly high pitched, tinged with just a little bit of panic, as she says, "_Yeah I think we're like 2 minutes away, listen, we may be wanted for assault, so I think I'm going to have to call my dad after all._"

My eyes go wide, and my head throbs again, as I ask, "Wait…What! What happened Bella, are you…"

I start to ask if she's hurt more, but I realize that she said we. Her voice breaks a little as she answers, "_We stopped at a rest stop... I went to the bathroom, Jasper went to get some food. When I came out of the bathroom a man stopped me…he, he called me by name. He told me that Emmett wanted me to come with him. I tried to walk away, he grabbed my arm and I hit him, well actually I pushed him, he fell over some guy in a wheel chair… Jasper saw us and me and him got the hell out of there!_"

I interject, "I'm guessing he didn't take the hint?"

She continues, "_No, he followed us back to the car. He said that he had orders, and if I would please make his job easy he wouldn't hurt me. I told him to get lost. He came at me, and Jasper hit him… a few times. He screamed at him, told the man to look at my face, that I wasn't going within 1000 yards of Emmett Cullen and that the man had better back off before he made what Emmett did to me look like kisses compared to what would happen to him. I don't know if he followed us, but he has Jaspers license plate number. He could report us easily. We…we're here Paul…_"

It takes me a second to realize that she means here as in here, at my house… I answer, "Okay, I'm coming out, tell Jasper to pull into the driveway, I'll open the garage so he can park his car in there. See you in a minute"

I hit the disconnect, and immediately my palms start to sweat, I force myself to get up and heading inside I go through to the front of the house and out the front door. There's an unfamiliar car in the drive, it's an Acura, not too flashy, but flashy enough that the Cullen daughter wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen in it. I go to the pad and open the garage door, and wave them in quickly waiting for Jasper to cut the engine before I hit the button to close the door.

Bella's door opens first, and she pops out, smiling and wincing slightly, as she says, "Hi Paul."

She's battered, and bruised, and honestly way too skinny, but none of that changes the fact that she's the most beautiful sight I've seen all day, and the smile that breaks on my face is the first genuine smile that I've had on my face since before the fight. I grin at her, as I reply, "Hi Girl."

The drivers side opens, but I ignore it as I cross over to Bella's side, taking her gently in my arms and bringing her to my chest, hugging her to me as I whisper in her ear, "I'm so glad you're safe. I'm so sorry that he hurt you baby. I swear to you, he'll never come near you again."

She stiffens slightly when I call her baby, and I release her quickly, taking a step back, "Sorry, too much too soon."

She shakes her head awkwardly, "No, it's not that I didn't like it. I'm just jumpy, I'm sorry."

Jasper clears his throat, and I look over to him, taking in the measure of the man, he's about 5'10, maybe slightly under, and about 140 lbs of wiry muscle which would put him in as a Junior Welterweight contender. Not at all what I would have expected from a sparring partner to a heavyweight contender…

The shock must show on my face, and he says, "Now you see what I mean about the punching bag thing… trust me, I held my own against that guy. His father hired me on because he figured the big man would humiliate me every time, but when his dad wasn't breathing down our necks and we were able to actually have a fair fight, I beat him."

Bella nods, "It's true, I was there for that one. Jasper was able to avoid all of his punches, and every time he avoided he hit him 4 or 5 times. He's really fast, and apparently he hits pretty hard because Em only lasted about 3 rounds before he called it."

I nod, "That's impressive. My dad would definitely be interested in seeing you fight."

He nods, "Cool."

Getting to the point, I lead them into the house through the garage door, "There's a little apartment down here, my dad usually crashes in it while we're training, but since doctors orders have me out of commission for at least the next two weeks he's gonna be with my mom at their place. All I ask is that whoever stays down here keep it neat for him, whoever takes it, don't feel like you have to stay down here, you can come and go as you please, I only have two bedrooms on this side of the house, otherwise I wouldn't put one of you down here."

Jasper says to Bella, "I think I'll stay down here if you don't mind."

She nods, "That's fine with me."

I nod, "Sounds good. Just to let you know, my dad and my grandmother are here right now. Bella I understand if you're not up to meeting anyone right now, but I figure that the best thing to do right now would be to call your dad and have him come down, and lets take care of this."

Bella looks frightened, but she stands up straight, and nods, "You're right, that sounds like the best thing to do, and I would like to meet your dad and grandma, I can handle it. I'm gonna go grab my bag."

She darts back into the garage, Jasper clicks his alarm thing and I hear the door open, she comes back in with her purse, and pulls her phone out of it, I see the crack on it, and she shakes her head before going into it and dialing.

****Bella POV****

I hit the button and the phone rings once, twice, and my dad picks up, "_Bella! Thank God! Where are you sweetheart? Are you alright? I just talked to Emmett and he's worried __**sick**__! What the hell are you thinkin' runnin' off with his sisters' fiancé!_"

I gasp, and yell into the phone, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME! He told you that Jasper and I ran away together! Dad I need you to come down to La Push, the big house about 3 blocks from the beach. As soon as you can!"

I hang my phone up, staring at it like it all of a sudden came to life in my hands, the sheer nerve of Emmett! How dare he tell my dad something like that!

Large hands gently cup my shoulders, and I reach up and hold onto one lightly, "Thanks."

Turning I move away from Paul, who looks serious, "It'll be okay Bella. You understand why he called your dad right?"

I shake my head, "No, not really."

He smiles at me, "He wanted to see if you told him anything, he probably figures the more time that goes by without your dad hearing from you, the less chance that you'll say anything. He's scared, but he's cocky, he probably thought you'd beg to go back to him, he sent that guy after you probably thinking that you'd go along quiet as you please. Honestly there's very little chance that that guys going to report you, he'd be in way worse trouble than you. I mean, he basically tried to kidnap a Police Chief's daughter."

I nod, "You have a point, I guess we should get the introductions done before my dad comes busting in here."

Paul reaches a hand out to me, hesitating slightly, I take it, and let him lead me up the stairs and into his kitchen. A man who looks too much like Paul to be anyone but his dad, and an elderly lady with brown skin and short white hair sit at the table. Paul's grandmother gasps as I walk into the room, and his dad abruptly gets up, with a curt, "Excuse me.", and goes down a short set of stairs and out the back door.

Paul guides me to a chair next to the woman, and I sit down, thankful that only the one side of my face is really that bad, and that it's not the side that is facing Paul's grandmother now, I say, "I'm sorry if I upset him, I didn't have any makeup… I would have tried to make myself look a little better."

The woman pats my hand very gently, "Don't you be sorry honey, he's not upset at you. He's just angry that someone would hurt a pretty little thing like you. If you don't mind my sayin so honey, you need to get some food in you."

She turns to Paul, "Pauly, grab my purse, I put a tin of cookies in it for you, but I think this little girl needs them more than you do right now. I'll bake you another batch tomorrow."

****Paul POV****

I grab the tin out of Grandma's purse, and play hurt, "But, my cookies…", I turn to Bella before continuing, "These cookies are the BEST cookies on the Res, Bella. You don't understand, they're better than any cookie you've ever had in your life. Every day that I train and watch my diet so that I can be in top shape to fight I **DREAM **about these cookies. Grandma is right though, you can have this batch, but only if you promise to eat all of them."

She smiles a little at me, "All of them but one, you should get at least one. I don't want to take them from you."

I push them towards her, "No. I insist."

She manages to smile without wincing in pain, as my dad comes back in, "I'm sorry. I had to calm down a little."

He turns to Bella, "I'm Paul Dixon Sr., Miss."

Bella manages a smile, "Please, call me Bella. I'm sorry about my appearance."

Dad barely represses a scowl, as he says, "You have nothing to be sorry for. That animal is the one who should be sorry, and trust me, we're going to make him sorry."

Cutting in, I say, "Yes, we will, but first, I want you guys to know Chief Swan is coming here, he should be here…"

I cut off, as I hear tires screech into my driveway, and a door slam. Bella puts her head in her hands, and then turns towards me, "Please, head him off, give him some sort of warning…"

I nod, and go to answer the door, thankful that you can't see into the kitchen from the front door. I open the door to a very upset Chief, "Paul. Where's my daughter? Did she bring that man here? I don't understand why she would have come here."

Standing aside, I gesture him inside, "Please, come in and sit down, she wants me to talk to you for a minute first."

He comes in and follows me into the living area. I gesture towards a couch, and he shakes his head at me, "No, thank you."

I sink into a chair, and try again, "Please. Sit. If only so that my head will stop throbbing at me."

He reluctantly sinks into a chair, "It's bad, isn't it…"

I nod, "Well it ain't good, so I guess that's bad… Look, after the fight, I texted Bella. To let her know I was okay. When she got back to me she told me she was planning on leaving Cullen and going back to Forks. To you."

Chief Swan's face pales slightly, "Okay, so how did she end up with Emmett's sisters' fiancé?"

I take a breath, "Cullen caught her texting me… I'm just gonna say it straight out, he beat the hell out of her. Jasper, the sisters' 'fiancé', he found Cullen standing over her, he saved her life, got her out of there. When I talked to her originally she didn't want you to see the bruises at their worst, and I don't blame her for wanting to spare you that. However, Cullen has sent a man after them, he approached Bella when she came out of a rest stop bathroom, told her that Cullen sent him for her and that she was to come with him. Bella said no, and the man tried to take her by force. Jasper stepped in, again, he hit the man when the man went for Bella again. They're worried that this man will follow them, or report them for assault. I told them that if the guy reported them for assault he'd be in just as much trouble as them, if not more, for attempting to kidnap a police chiefs' daughter. Even so I had them park their car in my garage."

Through all of this Chief has sat quietly, when he looks up at me, he has tears in his eyes, and his voice is heavy with emotion, "How could I let this happen? I knew there was something off with him when he was in my house the last time, and what did I do? I let him take her off to LA. She hasn't been eating, she looks terrible. I tried to tell her to come home..."

I interrupt, "I did too. You did everything you could short of showing up in LA and removing her against her will. She had to **choose** to leave him Chief. If you had taken her away from him, she'd have gone back to him in a second…"

He nods, "I know. She's 18, and maybe I've sheltered her too much… Thank you for giving her a safe place to come to when she felt she couldn't come to me."

I nod in return, "You're welcome. She's in the kitchen with my Grandma."

****Bella POV****

I hear Paul tell my dad where I am, and I turn so that my good side faces the door. He comes in, and he exclaims at the site of the light bruising on the right side of my face, "Son of a bitch!"

I put a hand up, "Dad, please, just I need you to sit down before you see the other side."

He sinks heavily into a chair, and Paul's grandma takes my hand gently. Slowly, I turn my head, letting him take in the worst of the bruising. His hand twitches towards his belt, just a fraction of an inch, but I see it. Emmett is lucky that he's in Los Angeles…

In the next instant I realize just how lucky, as dad starts to rant, "That fucking bastard! He fucking **called **me! Acted like he was **worried**! Son of a BITCH! All the time he knew that he had done THIS!"

Paul puts a hand on Dad's shoulder, and it's only when I hear him say, "Chief, calm down, you're upsetting her.", that I realize I've been cringing in fear.

Dad looks at me and his breath releases in a whoosh, "Shit.", he comes over to me, and puts his arm gently around me, "I'm sorry baby girl. I'm so sorry."

Shaking it off, I lean into my dad, "It's okay. It's not your fault, Dad. He'll get what's coming to him."

Dad hugs me a little tighter, "You're damn right he will."

****Time skip, PPOV****

After Chief Swan was filled in, he had Embry Call's momma come down to help him take statements from Bella and Jasper. She's really his secretary in the Forks police station but she has a badge and a weapon so she still counts as police.

Embry's mom takes Bella into the upstairs guest room and takes pictures of her bruises while Jasper gives Chief Swan the pictures he took of her on their trip. Grandma left shortly after Ms Call got to the house, I told her I would check in with her tomorrow, and thanked her for putting Bella at ease.

Chief was on his cell phone with the Los Angeles Police, they assured him that as soon as they got his file they would pay a visit to the Cullen house. He made sure to tell them that Bella is his daughter, he wanted them to know that it wasn't just anyone who Cullen had tuned up, he didn't want them to be tempted to take a bribe to sweep it under the rug.

Jasper comes up to the main floor with a bag in his hand, Dad stops him, "Tomorrow, I need to get a representative from the NWRBA up here so that he knows we didn't tamper with anything."

Jasper nods and brings the bag back downstairs. Dad comes over to me, "I'm gonna come back over tomorrow afternoon, hopefully someone from the office in Seattle will be with me. I can't wait to see this stuff start to come out in the press."

I nod, "Okay, just call first, I want her to be prepared."

He nods back, "Will do, see you tomorrow. Love you, Son."

I give him a half hug, "Love you too, Dad."

He says goodbye to Bella and her dad, and heads out the door. Chief stands up, and comes over to me, "Look Paul I hate to put you out, but with all this stuff coming to light about Emmett I'm going to be in the office for probably the next day and a half straight, only home to change clothes. I'm nervous about Bella being alone. Cullen has our address, I wouldn't put it past him to send someone to the house."

Waving it off, I reply, "It's not a problem, Chief. Bella was planning to stay here for a week or so anyway. She's welcome here as long as she wants to be here."

He tilts his head, giving me a strange look, but doesn't say anything other than, "Thank you."

I nod, "No problem."

Going into the kitchen I grab Bella's purse and pull the bottle of Tylenol 3 out of it. I shake a couple into my hand and fill a glass with water and bring it into the living room, "Here, you could probably use this."

She tries to smile but it comes out as a grimace as she says, "Thank you. I really could. I'll be happy when the swelling starts to go down, I know the bruises will take time, once the swelling goes away though it won't be so painful."

I nod, "I know the feeling honey, trust me, it'll be a lot better tomorrow."

She takes the pills and drinks the water, before saying, "Tomorrow… Maybe I'll start to feel normal again."

I smile at her, "You will. Before you know it, this whole ugly mess will be a memory."

She smiles, "That'll be nice."


	11. Ch 11: First Morning(mini chap)

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and may contain graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.**

****The Next Morning PPOV****

The grey morning light filters through the blinds, opening my eyes, I glance over and see that it's only about five in the morning. Getting out of bed, I grab a pair of shorts, hurriedly pulling them on, and heading across the hall into the bathroom.

This was Bella's first morning here, I wanted to get her on the road to recovery quickly, and in my opinion the place where she needed the most immediate help was her physical well being.

Shortly after our families had left I had set her up in the guest room with a special full face cold pack that Leah had gotten me as a joke one Christmas after Sam had started sparring with me. Bella asked if I didn't want to use it, and I had just laughed, and told her that I would stick with the bags of frozen vegetables in the freezer.

After that I had told her I would see her after she got settled in, and gone downstairs, and that was the last I saw of her for the night. Jasper kept to himself in the apartment, I knew that they had had a long trip, and it didn't bother me that they wanted a little time to themselves.

Finishing up in the bathroom I head back across the hall and grab a tee shirt, throwing it on before putting on socks and a beat up old pair of sneakers and heading downstairs. Jasper is in the kitchen surveying the fridge, he looks up briefly, "Mornin."

I nod in return, before replying, "Hey. I'm going to the store, do you want anything? I have to get some breakfast stuff."

He shuts the fridge, "Could you pick me up some orange juice? The non pulp variety."

Nodding again, I answer, "Sure thing."

Turning I grab my keys off the counter, and head out to my car.

****Meanwhile in Los Angeles****

Emmett Cullen lays in bed, Rosalie draped over him, she's sleeping deeply, he shoves her lightly, "Hey! Wake up."

She rolls to her side and glares at him, "What's your problem?"

He grunts at her, before responding, "You want Edward to come looking for you? It's almost 5 am. You have about 30 minutes before he wakes up, and if you want to slip back into his room you had better hurry, and get your ass outta here."

She rolls her eyes, "I don't care if he finds me. I'm with you now. Bella is gone and we can be together now!"

Emmett winces, but his voice is sharp, "Have you gone loony tunes or something? Bella will be back, most likely within the week. She hasn't even called her dad to say she's coming home. Dad's got someone out to bring her back. You need to leave, Rose."

A deep pink flush rises from her chest to her face, and her eyes glare sharply at him, as her southern really comes out in her anger, "I think you're the one who's loony Emmett Cullen. I was in the room when your daddy's bounty hunter called! Jasper knocked him a good one, I heard him tell your daddy that he was out!"

Emmett grins, "One, that was before Dad doubled the reward. Two, do you really think he's the only one out looking for her? Give it 3 days tops before one of them gets her. Then she'll be home. Now get out."

His voice goes menacing and dark, "I'm not going to tell you again."

Rosalie's blood chills, a shiver of fear running up her spine as she gets quickly out of the bed, grabbing up her clothes and throwing them on even as she's walking out of the room.

Emmett rolls over on his bed, looking at the picture of Bella on his nightstand before hunkering down into his pillows. He's not stupid, nor does he suffer from any form of amnesia, what he is, is numb.

He had tried fucking out his frustration with Rose, he had tried pounding it out on Paul Dixon's face just 3 days earlier. He had tried to love it out with Bella the night before all the shit hit the fan…it hadn't been the same. He knew she wasn't into it, she was receptive because she felt she had to be, he just wanted things to be normal again. He wanted his life back.

His hands turn to fists and almost without his permission his arm shoots out and he knocks the picture savagely off the nightstand, his thoughts raging, _Fucking bitch! All I wanted was for us to get back to normal! All I WANTED was a night of normalcy with a fiancé who wanted to be with me just as much as I wanted to be with her! What did I get? Barely veiled disgust. A fiancé who slipped out of our bed as soon as she was able to! And where did she go? Out to the pool to text her fuck buddy! That stupid bitch! She's going to be so sorry when she gets back here. I'll make her beg me to take her back._

We leave him, letting him seethe in his blind fury. In another wing of the house Carlisle is on his way to the private security room behind the false wall in the back of his study, it's time to erase the tapes, no one in the family knows that Carlisle has cameras in every single room, and also in most of the outbuildings, and the pool area. He's known from the very beginning that Rose has been screwing Emmett behind Edward's back. It didn't sit well with Carlisle, Emmett was his adopted child, but Edward, Edward was _his_ son. It didn't sit well with Carlisle at all to see his boy played for a fool by two people with no legitimate claim to the name Cullen.

Still, with Bella in the wind, and Jasper with her, protecting himself meant protecting Emmett. That meant that there could be absolutely nothing on the premises to point to steroid use, he would make a private copy of a couple of choice scenes from the tapes and he would put that tape in his private safety deposit box, not even Esme had access to it.

No, Rose would never **be** a Cullen, Carlisle would never allow it. In his opinion Edward had been wasting his time on the tramp for far too long as it was, and if he had his way that relationship would be over even before one of his bounty hunters brought Bella back. Once Bella was back, and Emmett's career was safely out of the woods he would pay his adopted child a hefty amount to get out of his life and stay out. In his opinion, it was time to cut his losses.

He goes to the false wall, hits the sweet spot, the wall swings open, and he steps inside. As soon as his eyes adjust he knows that something is very wrong. None of the monitors are recording, they're all flashing the same message at him on a blue screen, and as he reads it, his blood turns cold, fear tightens his chest, and he lets out an anguished cry as he reads those two words flashing over and over again on the screens…Insert Disc…Insert Disc…Insert Disc…

****Short time skip PPOV****

After unpacking the groceries I got to work. I had made the batter up for a simple buttermilk pancake recipe, put bacon in the oven to cook, and as I flip the first 3 pancakes all I can think is, perfection. Yeah I like to cook, I hardly ever get to because for the most part my meals during training are just grilled chicken sometimes with salad for lunch and dinner, and oatmeal egg whites and fruit for breakfast, but it is what it is.

I grab a plate, pull the bacon out of the oven, and put two pieces on a plate along with the pancakes. Going to the fridge I take out the butter and syrup and do the pancakes up right. It's about 6:30 now, so I put the plate on a tray along with a glass of orange juice, and a bottle of one of those shakes that they give to people in nursing homes and hospitals who haven't been eating to help them put weight back on and keep them healthy.

I head up the stairs carefully, and breathe a sigh of relief when I make it to the top without dropping anything. Going to the door of the guest room I knock on the door lightly, and after a minute Bella answers, "Come in."

Opening the door I find her laying on the bed, still fully clothed from yesterday. The mask is on her face still, she takes it off as I approach, and I can see that her face is a good bit less swollen than it was yesterday.

"Girl, did you sleep at all?", I ask worriedly.

She laughs a little, "I honestly passed out hard about 20 minutes after you left the room last night. I woke up at about 2:30 in the morning, and put this back in the freezer for about an hour, then put it back on, and went back to sleep. I just woke up again about ten minutes before you knocked."

Looking at her face again the bruises are still there, but with the swelling down a bit she looks more like herself. I bring the tray over and set it on the bed next to her, "I made you breakfast."

She smiles shyly, "Oh, wow! Thank you. You didn't have to do that, I don't think I could eat all that by myself."

I smile at her, "Try? I made the pancakes from scratch, you don't want me to think you don't like my cooking!"

She nods, with a slight giggle, "Okay."

Grinning at her, I reply, "Thank you. I'm gonna go make a few of those for myself and make up a plate, do you mind if I come back up and eat with you?"

She shakes her head, "That would be really nice actually."

****Short time skip still PPOV****

I take my plate and go back up to the guest room, knocking as I open the door. Bella smiles awkwardly, "The pancakes are really good Paul. Thank you."

I sit down on the chair in the corner, "You're welcome. I'm glad you like them."

Looking at her plate now, I see she's only eaten one pancake in the time I've been gone, she grimaces, "It's really bad isn't it?"

Giving her a questioning look, I ask, "What?"

She answers, "The shape I'm in. Honestly I'm stuffed right now, and I know I've only eaten one of these, and I shouldn't be _this_ full."

I shrug, "Your perception is what counts, and if you think it's bad, then it is. That shake thing is probably the most important thing for you right now. The Cullen's starved you down Bella, you're malnourished, have been for the better part of a month now. The shake will give you all the vitamins and nutrients that you haven't been getting."

She nods, and shakes the bottle before opening it, and drinking, as I continue, "I need to ask you a question."

She puts the bottle back on the tray, "Sure."

Taking a bite of my own food, I chew and swallow quickly, before asking, "How do you think you look?"

She sighs, "Honestly, I don't think I'm fat. Emmett, and his family, they kept telling me, 'you need to lose weight, Bella', 'You've put on weight, you look so fat', just all the time with that. I would look in the mirror, and think to myself, 'If I'm fat, why do I look so fucking thin?'. Esme and Alice gave me these pills, I don't know what they were, some super fat burner or something I guess. I was never hungry so they must have had an appetite suppressant in them as well, and Emmett would make me go with his mother and sister on their work outs too."

Bella pauses to take another drink of the shake and another few small bites of pancake, and I take the opportunity to speak, "Okay so I don't have to worry that as soon as I leave the room you're going to go to the bathroom and puke up everything you ate, right?"

She looks up at me, shock plain in her eyes, "What? No! Of course not!"

She puts the tray aside and stands up, wincing a little from the bruises that were on her hips and arms I guess, not to mention the ones on her back from when she fell when Cullen hit her, and she looks in the full length mirror next to the dresser, "Damn. I guess I really do look Anna huh?"

I nod, "You really do, Girl. I couldn't even believe it when you walked in to the weigh in, but don't worry, we're gonna get you fixed up and healthy quick as we can."

She smiles, "Thank you. I really appreciate everything that you're doing for me."

Smiling back at her I nod, "It's no trouble Bella. I'm honestly really looking forward to getting to know you better."

Looking down shyly, she replies, "Me too."


	12. Ch 12: Evidence

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and all recognizable characters and situations contained therein. All original content contained in this story is property of the author. Story is rated M and may contain graphic language, violent content, mild to moderate drug use, descriptions of domestic violence, and sexual situations.**

**A/N: I just want to say thanks to everyone reading this story! You guys are awesome, I really appreciate all the reviews! Thank you all!**

****Later That Same Day, PPOV****

I had talked to my dad about 20 minutes ago, and in just about 15 minutes, he, Chief Swan, and Jason Haver, the freakin President of the North Western Regional Boxing Association, are going to be at my house. To say I'm a little freaked is a bit of an understatement.

Bella and Jasper had come into the living room to wait with me until they got here. Jasper had a duffel bag on the coffee table in front of him, and is nervously tapping his feet on the floor. Bella meanwhile is sitting quietly in the recliner, a bottle of the nutrient shake in her hand, and a worried look on her face.

Walking into the kitchen I grab myself a glass of water, and go back out to sit next to Jasper on the couch, "So uh, you gonna tell me what you got in there?"

He picks up the bottle of water he had next to it on the table, "In that bag, I have everything we'll need to take those fuckers down for good. Leave it at that until everyone gets here. I don't want to go through the explanation twice."

I nod, "Okay, well, whatever it is, it sounds good."

He smirks at me a bit, "Oh believe me, it is."

Bella looks at him nervously, picking at the t-shirt that is painfully loose on her thin frame, before asking, "Jas, do you think we're safe?"

He looks at her for a moment, thinking about it before saying, "I think we're in the safest place we can be Bella. Carlisle wouldn't think to look for us here, Emmett may have accused you of cheating with Paul, but deep down, he knows better. He'll be watching your dad most likely though."

Bella nods, "That's alright, Dad coming down to La Push is nothing new. He spends most of his free time here anyway. All his friends live down here."

Jasper tilts his head, nodding slightly as he replies, "Well that's good, at least it won't look suspicious."

She shrugs, starts to say something, but the knock on the door interrupts her. Dad walks in with Mr. Haver right behind him, and Chief Swan behind him along with a couple of other men, one of whom is clearly a plain clothes detective, probably with the Clallam County Sheriff's office, the other is flashier, I would say he's also a plain clothes detective, but this time I'd say he's with the Los Angeles Police Department. Embry Call's mother is also with him.

Mr. Haver comes up to me, and I shake his hand, "Mr. Haver, thank you for coming."

He nods gravely, "Well in cases such as this I have no choice. I want to first say that these are very serious accusations that you are making. I hope that you have some very compelling evidence."

Charlie takes over, clearing his throat, "Ahem, Mr. Haver, I have to say that my daughter's face should be compelling enough. That being said, these detectives are here in official capacity, I'm just here to support my daughter."

He gestures to the local detective, "This is Detective Frank with the Clallam County Sheriff's office,", Then to the other one, "and this is Detective Christian from the Los Angeles Police department, they've formed a joint task force in this investigation along with the Seattle Police department, but Seattle is letting Frank handle it."

Detective Frank steps forward, along with Officer Call, "Miss Swan, we'd like to talk to you first, the crime against you is the most compelling in the scheme of this. Would you prefer to talk in private?"

Bella shakes her head 'no', as she answers, "No, I'd rather talk here."

He nods, "Okay, first I want to assure you that we are taking your accusations very seriously."

Charlie interjects, "Her **accusations**? Look at her face, you think that happened on it's own?"

Detective Frank takes a breath, before responding, "No, Chief Swan, I think it's assault, and I want the culprit caught, and put in jail, but I have to work each case from every angle, you know that Charlie. I know she's your daughter, but you need to let me do my job."

He turns back to Bella, "I need to take a report…"

Detective Christian cuts him off, "Actually since the crime perpetrated against Miss Swan took place in **my** jurisdiction _**I**_ am the one who needs to take a report."

He steps forward, "I received the reports made by Chief Swan and Officer Call. This is just going to rehash everything that was in them, I'm sorry for the redundancy."

He turns to Jasper, "You're Jasper Whitlock?"

Jasper nods, and he asks, "And you witnessed the assault?"

Jasper takes a breath, "I didn't see the start, I don't know what started it, but I saw him standing over her. She was on the ground, she wasn't even screaming at that point. I honestly thought she was dead."

Chief Swan winces, his face turning pale at the thought, Officer Call puts a hand on his shoulder. Detective Christian just nods, "Okay."

He turns back to Bella, "Did anyone witness him actually striking you?"

She shakes her head, a look of fear and dismay on her face, and I can't help what pops out of my mouth, "This is bullshit! You're going to tell us that you can't do shit to him because no one saw it. What about her _FACE_?"

He looks dismayed, but tells the truth, "I'm sorry, there's just nothing we can do, the odds of getting a conviction are so slight that the DA won't touch it with a ten foot pole."

Jasper interrupts, "And what if I told you we have video evidence?"

The detective almost gasps, but controls himself barely, "Do you?"

Jasper nods, "I have video of everything that has been going on at the Cullen Estate since just after the first fight. I mean that, everything. I even have footage from the suite that Carlisle had set up for Bella and Emmett in Seattle."

Bella swallows, "What do you mean, everything Jasper? How did you get it?"

He runs a hand through his hair, and both detectives take out tape recorders, and switch them on, as Jasper starts to talk, "I had been unhappy with the Cullen's for a long time. My girl treated me like a walking purse hanger, Carlisle was never going to give me a chance to go pro, I was frustrated. So I waited, I bided my time, and then one day I saw Carlisle go into his office with a stack of compact discs."

He cuts off and takes a sip of his water before continuing, "I waited about 10 minutes, and then decided to pretend to have to talk to him about some insanely expensive item Alice wanted me to buy her that I could not afford. Alice is Emmett's younger sister, my former girlfriend."

Detective Christian interjects, "So you lived with the Cullen's, yes?"

Jasper nods, "Yes, I was also on their payroll. My sister and I went to live with them when they hired our uncle as Emmett's coach, I was one of his sparring partners too. Anyway, I went in very quietly, he wasn't there, I noticed that the far wall looked funny, and I surmised that he had some sort of room hidden behind the door. I waited until the next time Mr. and Mrs. Cullen went away, they took Edward, Emmett's younger brother, and my sister Rose with them, and I waited for Alice to go to sleep, and then I went back to the study."

Detective Christian asks, "What did you find?"

Jasper answers, "At first I almost went crazy trying to figure out how to open the room up. I pulled books off the shelves, pulled on antlers, everything. Then I noticed a bulge in the wallpaper. I had remembered seeing it before, and Carlisle ranting to me about lazy mexis who couldn't be bothered to do a job right, and that he was planning to have it fixed asap. The switch was behind it. The wall slid open, and you really would have to see it to believe it, but I shit you not, he had a screen and a recorder for every room in the house. He also had them in the guest houses, and out by the pool. When I say every single room, I really mean **every **_single __**room**_."

Bella lets out a low moan, and her Dad's head snaps around to look at her, a red rush coloring his face. Detective Frank is the first one of the other cops to get it, he clears his throat, "Obviously we will be taking possession of the tapes Charlie, I promise nothing unnecessary will see the light of day."

Charlie nods, and Bella whispers out, "Thank you."

Jasper continues, "I knew they were there, I learned to just accept it because I didn't want him to know that I knew. Originally I thought about using them as leverage to get my own position, but I still at that point wanted to earn it so I didn't do that. I just reminded myself that one day something would go wrong, and I'd be sitting on easy street."

Detective Christian asks, "So you intended to one day blackmail Carlisle Cullen."

Jasper shrugs, "I won't say the thought never crossed my mind, but I wasn't plotting or planning to in any way. So, I found the cameras, and when Emmett told Bella and me that we only had 20 minutes to clear out of the premises I grabbed my stuff out of Alice's room, and grabbed a duffel bag, I knew where he kept the stuff, and Emmett was good enough to keep his family in the family room. He actually thought _I _ was a threat. Really I think he knew that I'd be able to convince Rose to leave if I really wanted to. He knew he had lost Bella, if only for the moment, he wouldn't take the chance of losing the girl he'd been screwing behind his brother and Bella's backs too."

Chief Swan turns red again, this time in anger instead of embarrassment, while Bella just snorts out a breath of disgust. Jasper finally reaches across and pulls a disc off the top of the pile in the bag, "Anyway since I had had all my stuff in a bag anyway it was easy to head into Carlisle's study and grab all the discs and be out way before the 20 minute time period that Emmett had so graciously allowed us.", he hands the disc to Detective Frank, "This is the disc you detectives will want to see first. It's from the cameras in the pool area from that morning."

Detective Frank takes it, and Jasper goes back into the bag, and pulls out a bag with bloody gauze and needles in it, he puts it on the table along with 5 discs and another baggie of vials, before turning to Mr. Haver, and saying, "And **this** is what you want Mr. Haver. Those vials have Carlisle and Emmett's fingerprints on them, the needles too, the gauze and the needles both have Emmett's blood on them."

Jasper pauses, and indicates the first disc, "You guys need to understand that Carlisle isn't just overly vigilant, the man is certifiable, he should NOT have a license to practice medicine anymore, he is seriously nuts, I mean the man is dangerous. This disc is from the hotel room where Bella and Emmett were supposed to stay after the fight. He would have had to check in and gone straight to the room and rigged this whole thing before even going to the venue the night of the first fight. The question is why? If Emmett had won and Bella had gone back with him all Carlisle would have had is footage of the two of them doing whatever they were doing, what could he have hoped to do with that other than use it to humiliate and blackmail one or both of them somewhere down the line? Em lost though, and this is what you got."

He takes the disc over to my tv, "Paul, have you got a dvd player here?"

Nodding, I get up and take the disc from him, inserting it into the dvd player and grabbing the remote. Turning I go back to the chair and sit down turning the TV on and hitting play on the remote as the screen comes up on a large ornately decorated hotel room.

Bella gasps, as the screen shows a battered and bruised Emmett sitting in a chair with his head hanging down, and his father in front of him pacing the very ugly, and probably very expensive carpet. He stalks back and forth like an agitated cat, before turning to his already beaten down son, and yelling, "What in the name of all that is holy WAS THAT? Tell me Emmett, did we NOT train? Did we NOT _prepare_ for this fight? Did I NOT spend exorbitant amounts of money to get you the best trainers, the best foods, the best equipment? To be beaten by that, that, HEATHEN! You should be ashamed at that showing Emmett! I am ashamed **for** you! We did this the way you wanted to do it, obviously that didn't work! No. Tomorrow is going to be different. We're going to do it the way I said to do it from the beginning…"

I can't help the chuckle that escapes me, the man just called me a heathen, what does that even mean? The next thing I see is Cullen actually showing some spine, shouting "I'm not using PED's Dad! It's illegal! It's _cheating_! Even if it wasn't, I'll get caught! Don't you remember the testing we did!"

His father just smiles at him, an insane grin, as he says, "Didn't I tell you son? One of my affiliated practices starting on Monday is going to be the new testing company used by the North Western Regional Boxing Association. Dr. Marcus Volturi, an old, OLD friend of mine is going to be the new chief testing doctor. Hell if you want you can even go back to your nasty old habit of smoking a blunt at night when you go out. Your tests will **always** come back clean."

Mr. Haver gasps in shock, exclaiming, "That son of a BITCH!"

Jasper pauses the playback, as Mr. Haver turns to address my dad, "Mr. Dixon, I just want to assure you that the NWRBA did not have **any** knowledge that Dr. Volturi and his practice were in **ANY** way affiliated with Carlisle Cullen! Emmett is going to be stripped of his title, the whole fight is going to be stricken from the record! Emmett Cullen will _**NEVER **_ box again, and I WILL be reporting this to the state medical boards both in Washington, _and_ in California!"

Jasper interjects, "There's more…"

He presses the play button again, and Emmett just stares at his father blankly, before saying, "I don't want to win that way Dad."

The look on Carlisle Cullen's face is pure disgust, as he snaps, "Have I taught you nothing? Winning is winning, and **winning** is **EVERYTHING**! We've been going over this and over this since you joined peewee football 15 years ago! Being good doesn't cut it in this world son! Do you think if you keep losing, and you let your face get beat to hamburger again and again and again that that pretty little fiancé of yours is going to stick around?"

Bella gasps at that, and on the screen Emmett looks like he's been slapped, the video is actually so clear that you can **see** the triumph on Carlisle's face as he continues, "Why do you think she was so _eager_ to go home with Charlie after the fight tonight? She could barely look at you! And after your mother and I spent so much money on a suite for the two of you! Ungrateful little hick, she's lucky she's a beauty."

Bella lets out an anguished cry, "That's not true at all! How could he think that!"

Jasper pauses the tape, and Charlie is by her side in an instant as he cups her shoulders in his hands, soothing her, "Carlisle was full of shit Bella! He was using Emmett's insecurities against him in order to get him to agree to what he wanted."

My heart gives a lurch as tears start to flow down Bella's bruised face, as she whimpers, "I don't understand how he could be so cruel to him! He's his father! He's supposed to love him no matter what!"

Her sadness gives way to anger, as she near shouts, "I never gave a DAMN about the Cullen's money! It didn't matter to me who Emmett Cullen was to other people, to me he was just Em! I loved him for him, the rest was just what it was! It didn't matter to me whether he won or lost, all that mattered was him being happy."

Jasper chimes in, "Bella, your dad is right. Emmett's insecurities have everything to do with Carlisle, nothing to do with you. Carlisle was just hitting him where he knew it would hurt the most, and it worked obviously."

He stops the dvd and hands it to Mr. Haver along with the rest, "You'll want to watch the rest, there's not much, but I don't think the rest of us need to watch it. The others are all from the training facility on the Cullen property. There's a lot of footage to sort through, Carlisle is on those discs repeatedly injecting Emmett with steroids. The sound is crystal clear too. "

Jasper looks worried now, "Mr. Haver, I hope that my being involved in the Cullen camp doesn't mean that I will also be banned from the sport. I hope to go pro myself one day…"

Mr. Haver shakes his head, "No, you are not to blame for any of this, you were not in a position to make accusations, I can appreciate the tough spot you were in. Thank you for bringing this all to light, and giving us the evidence that will enable us to rid our sport of this garbage."

The detectives nod, and Detective Christian speaks first, "Yes, thank you. We will get a warrant for Emmett Cullen's arrest as soon as we review the tapes with the District Attorney. I would say 3 days on the outside and I think we'll also be getting warrants for Carlisle Cullen as well. Mr. Hale, you say that Cullen had cameras in the bedrooms? The bathrooms?"

Jasper nods, "Yes, he had them everywhere, you'll see when you watch the tapes, they're all clearly marked with where they're from."

Christian appears deep in thought for a moment, "Yes, that's going to be a big help, we'll not only nail him for distribution of a controlled substance, we'll get him for criminal voyeurism as well, he'll do two years easy for that one."

Bella speaks, "What about what he did to Emmett? There has to be something you can charge him with for that! He may as well have killed him! He made him use that stuff!"

Jasper speaks up quietly, "Bella…Emmett agreed to take the drugs… Carlisle didn't shoot him up against his will. It was his choice... Even after he knew things were getting bad between you, after he started up with Rose trust me, he knew he was bad, but he never suggested to Carlisle that maybe it was enough. He just kept taking them."

Bella goes silent…Damn, she really loved him… What if she goes back to him? I know there's really nothing I can do if she chooses to go. What happens if Cullen stops the drugs, would he be right back to normal? Could Bella resist him if that was the case?

None of the thoughts I was having were really important in the moment. Bella and I were friendly, I was doing her a favor. That's all…


End file.
